As the leader of any group, ministry or business you are often are faced with a decision which you have the right to act on alone; but is that the right thing to do? The same is true of a management or leadership team.
Today in a staff meeting I was leading, our team was faced with the possibility of making a decision that would affect the programming in a number of areas and possibly across our entire organization. We had the right to make the decision, but was it the right thing to do?
Making the decision and dictating that decision through an ‘all-staff’ email would be the easy thing to do. However, I believe we would lose the respect and buy-in from the whole team by taking this approach.
A better approach would be:
- to meet with representatives of the affected departments
- communicate the options
- communicate what we feel is the best option
When we take this approach:
- we give the whole staff ownership of the decision
- we gain support
- we might learn of obstacles which we had not thought of
- and, we more than likely reach the same decision…but this time as a team
So even though the word is the same there is a difference from having the right and it being the right thing to do.