What Good Leaders Need to Know and Do

Facilitators:  Joan Eden, MS  Barbara Ritchen, MA Setting the Stage

 Describe a values-based decision-making model, using a five-step process.  Identify how personal and organizational values impact, or should impact the decision- making process.  Develop a plan for ways to continue to develop their decision-making skills.

 Think of a problem situation at work that you have dealt with in the past.  This issue should be one that affected others.  You may or may not have been the “decider.”  The decision may or may not have been resolved successfully.  With a partner, describe this problem and the outcome.  Discuss what went well and why, and what didn’t go well and why.

Clarify the Perspectives that We and Others Bring to the Issue

 3 Powerful Elements  Roles we play  Life experiences  Training

 Individual culture is made up by groups we belong to:  Family, gender, faith, nationality, professions  Affects:  Language  Rituals  Rules of behavior

 Requires a step back, a look around, and the adjustment of point of view  When a decision-maker appreciates the range of differing viewpoints early in the process, s/he:  Increases the likelihood of meaningful dialogue  Begins to identify biases, prejudgments and assumptions  Notices missing perspectives

 Ask self and others in the group:  What is your initial “take” on this decision?  What are we taking for granted?  Do we have the necessary perspectives to make a good decision? If not, who is missing and how should we involve them?  How can we clearly state the decision that we are responsible for making?  How should we approach this decision?

 Big, narrow or in-between, affects how we approach the problem  Helps set boundaries  Too narrow - could fail to consider important issues  Takes time but increases likelihood of good decisions  Urgency has a dramatic effect on process and outcome

 “Look through a different window”  To enhance and expand your own frame  Know your own point of view  Inquire about others’ perspectives  Manage perspective

With a partner discuss the following based on the difficult decisions that you shared earlier:  What perspectives did you personally bring to the situation or issue?  What are some of the factors (roles, experience, training, cultural groups) that you recognize contributed to your own perspectives?  What were the different perspectives of others that played a role in the decision?

Comprehend the Range of What Matters to Others and to Us

 Talk with and listen to others in a way that opens you to be changed by what someone else says.  Decide who is affected by this decision.  Explore roles, relationships, history and experience that make abstract values, personal and immediate.

 Establish useful background information by understanding context  Discover what matters by naming values  Explain “big value” words or abstract statements  “Quality”  “Respect one another”  “Be fair”

 Through shared inquiry, respectful listening and reflection on what is said  To develop mutual understanding  To communicate things that influence you  To explore initial perspectives and values by asking “why” not just “what”

 Pay attention to diverse positions  “Facts” do not exist without interpretation  Invite others to share the story behind their values  Look for common ground  Check for the “elephant in the room”

 Check for accuracy and assumptions  Watch the tendency to stop conversation too soon  Seek out quieter participants  Assure consideration of interests of all stakeholders

Commit to What is Most Important to Guide the Decision

 Third challenge on the road to a good decision: determining what matters most and committing to it  Often involves the painful process of choosing, not between right and wrong, but between right and right  Goal is to commit to what carries the most weight and commit to guiding values

 Probe for deep knowledge  Highlight competing goods  Identify guiding values

 Jumping to options instead of going deeper into the values  Fear of expressing doubt  “Groupthink”

 Keep a list, define values and relate to context at hand  Encourage transparent advocacy (from everyone)  Ask each person to identify most important value and why  Use multiple voting  Look at values side by side  Explore differences  Change shoes

 Be clear about the few, bright guiding values that point you toward the final decision  More important than agreement is the sense that each got to advocate for the values s/he believes are most significant  Most important is the sense that everyone has been heard

Choose a Course of Action that Aligns with the Most Important Values

 The gathering, reviewing, analyzing phase is done  The options lie ahead  Time has come to choose our direction—to walk the talk

 Next task is to generate and examine possible options that honor these values  Goal: reach a clear decision that directly links to the most important values  Encourage participants to be creative in developing options

 Brainstorming  Pros and Cons  SWOT Analysis  Decision Tree  Combining Options  Decision Matrix

 Criteria Wt. Option 1 Option 2 Option 3  ________________________________________ Value A _ Value B ___________________________________ Value C __________________________________ Value D___________________________________

 Answer the following questions:  What negative or undesirable consequences are likely or possible as a result of this decision?  What do we regret about this decision?  Are there important values that this decision does not honor?  Anticipate consequences

 More than ruling out or eliminating options  It’s moving toward or embracing something because of affinity or preference  The guiding values should pull us toward actions that fit

What would you do?

Communicate the Decision to Others Openly and Honestly

 We must:  State the decision clearly  Provide details in a direct, honest account  Take responsibility for the decision  Describe the values that drove the decision  Acknowledge the downside or negative impacts, including important values not honored, as well as people likely to suffer from the decision

Transparent Coherent Comprehensive

1.Define the decision clearly 2.Identify the person who made the decision 3.Describe the values that drove the decision 4.Acknowledge the downside, including important values not honored, as well as people likely to suffer from the decision

 If the report is honest, it will:  Build credibility  Attract support  Identify the audience that needs to hear the decision  Remember what they need to know  Adjust the format to fit the situation

 Retaliation  Opposition  Response to bad news  Loss of esteem  Antidotes: commitment to the truth, credibility in the eyes of those who disagree with us, and diffusing the opposition by acknowledging their arguments.

 “Have I been open enough about the basis for my decision and honest about what I don’t like about it? “ (Transparent)  “Have I demonstrated that I considered what matters to stakeholders:?” (Comprehensive)  “Do the stated reasons for the decision clearly connect with the choice made so others understand?” (Coherent)

 1. Clarify the perspectives that we and others bring to the issue  2. Comprehend the range of what matters to others and us  3. Commit to what is most important that will guide the decision  4. Choose a course of action that aligns with the most important values  5. Communicate the decision to others openly and honestly

 Questions, Suggestions, Comments  Action Plans  Decide on ONE thing you will do differently as result of this workshop: write it down.  Share with partner; set time and method for follow- up.  Closing Remarks