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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to make sure everyone who is involved

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Speaker 1: in a decision knows his or her role in that decision,

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Speaker 1: so you can make decisions faster and avoid hurt feelings.

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Speaker 1: This tip, like another one this week, comes from Michael C.

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Speaker 1: Mankin's and Eric Garden's book Time Talent Energy. Mankins and Garden,

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Speaker 1: who are management consultants with Baine, offer tips to help

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Speaker 1: business leaders make the most of their actual human resources,

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Speaker 1: that is, the people who are doing the work. One

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Speaker 1: way to do this get better at making decisions. If

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Speaker 1: you have ever been in a meeting where people were

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Speaker 1: stumbling around trying to reach consensus, especially if it was

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Speaker 1: clear who gets to make the actual decision, well it

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Speaker 1: might have been a little frustrated. These time wasting gatherings

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Speaker 1: tend to happen because people don't know what role they

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Speaker 1: are supposed to play in a decision. If you think

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Speaker 1: about the process, there are a few common roles. Some

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Speaker 1: people are there to offer input, advisory opinions based on

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Speaker 1: their expertise. Some people are there to recommend, to argue

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Speaker 1: for a specific course of action. Others are there to

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Speaker 1: agree that something can be done, that is, that it

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Speaker 1: is legal or technically feasible, and some people are there

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Speaker 1: to decide. Others are there to perform, that is, to

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Speaker 1: implement the decision once it's made, with their presence at

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Speaker 1: the decision being mostly about seeing what's going into it.

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Speaker 1: In a slightly different order, these roles to recommend, agree, perform, implement,

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Speaker 1: and decide form the acronym rapid. The upside of assigning

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Speaker 1: these roles for rapid decision making is that everyone knows

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Speaker 1: how they are expected to contribute, and equally important, how

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Speaker 1: they are not expected to contribute. So if your role

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Speaker 1: is input, for instance, you will draw on your knowledge

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Speaker 1: to share how you think the possible options could play out,

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Speaker 1: but you know that you are not the one making

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Speaker 1: the actual decision. If your role is to recommend, well,

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Speaker 1: you can argue for something you won't keep your good

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Speaker 1: ideas about the best approach to yourself, but you will

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Speaker 1: also realize that someone else will ultimately decide what route

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Speaker 1: to take. And if three of you are in the

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Speaker 1: decision role, well, you know that you are aiming to

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Speaker 1: reach consensus with those people and not with others. Someone

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Speaker 1: else's argument for or against something is interesting, but you

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Speaker 1: don't actually need to win that person over. Clarifying people's

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Speaker 1: roles and decision making is good for efficiency and morale.

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Speaker 1: People fill the roles the organization needs them to play,

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Speaker 1: and they understand how they're being asked to contribute. Everyone

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Speaker 1: knows how the decision will be made, rather than awkwardly

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Speaker 1: attempting to dance towards consensus, and no one feels devalued

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Speaker 1: because they thought they had a role in making the

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Speaker 1: decision but their voice went unheard. So the next time

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Speaker 1: you are part of a decision making process, get clarity

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Speaker 1: on your role. Ask how you are supposed to be

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Speaker 1: contributing to the decision, and if you are in charge,

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Speaker 1: make it clear to your team how each person is

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Speaker 1: going to contribute to the decision. Don't be settled about this.

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Speaker 1: Make sure everybody knows his or her role and its

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Speaker 1: value to the team. Then when it is time to deliberate,

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Speaker 1: your team members will understand how to work together well.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and

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Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.

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Speaker 1: That's b the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. I can't

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Speaker 1: ge