The idea that we need to " That everyone is in agreement" before committing to work is an obstacle to teams wishing to move from "discussion" to "work". Through this practice, "work" means consent and performance, but when we mean improvement and learning, we give people the freedom to maintain their reservations and make it easier to commit to trying something new.
Commit to Actions, not Beliefs:
When we make commitments or expect team members to make commitments, one mistake is trying to persuade others to stay on the same page; In other words, trying to persuade people to harmonize their actions and behaviors as well as change the way they think.
The best way to do this is simply to commit to actions. When making any important decision, you are likely to have people who have chosen a different path. What the organization needs is for the entire team to go along with the procedures necessary to support the decision.
Trying to convince people that they also need to change their way of thinking to accommodate the decision adds a burden that delays moving forward and requires them to admit that they were wrong. Since the action takes place immediately after the decision is made, we don't know who was wrong if anyone was wrong at all.
Decision-Making Methodology:
Imagine that you have to decide on a proposal made by one of your employees. Your colleague stated that he intends to change an advertising campaign in a certain way. The moment you hear about the suggestion, you will feel a negative reaction, as your personal experience judges the idea proposed by your colleague to be a bad one. You think you will lose sales or waste resources.
Of course, it is not a moral issue and no one will be hurt, but it's just that it's not the best proposition for the institution. However, as this will continue in the future, as will all resolutions, you're not 100% sure.
The obligation you can make as a leader is to support the decision with your actions and know what will happen. You don't have to be convinced that it's a good idea, but you just have to be convinced that there is enough opportunity that it would be a good idea to risk the limited resources that will be expended on the decision. You assess what this colleague and the institution will learn from this decision, which is good enough for the company.
The same principle applies if the situation reverses. If you ask your team to implement a particular decision and there are people in the team who do not think that this decision is the best way, there is no need to persuade them to do so. You must let them stick to their thoughts if they commit themselves to support the decision you have made by working to implement it, and the organization's objectives are thus achieved.
After making the decision, do not try to convince the opponents that their thinking is wrong. No one can know whether a decision is correct until you test the hypothesis on which the decision was made.
Ella's Kitchen: A Collaborative Organizational Culture:
Ella's Kitchen is an organic baby food company operating out of London. Leaders have worked to build a more collaborative organizational culture, where people contribute with their ideas.
An Organizational Culture Based on Cooperation:
One of the ideas put forward by the product team was to offer food that looked like bread chopsticks, and children as young as seven months old could eat it’ however, it was difficult to make this product. If you make it too hard, it will be dangerous and sharp, and if you make it too soft, it will melt very quickly.
In addition, this product requires special packaging, which will lead to high packaging and shipping costs, and that's why leadership didn't see this as a viable product, but the leaders pledged to build a more participatory culture, so they understood that they needed to fulfill their commitments and let the team try their idea. Leadership saw it as a learning opportunity and agreed to produce it. A year later, these chopsticks became the company's first earnings product.
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