CHAPTER 18

What to Do After You Choose

A decision—especially an important one—is a milestone and not the end of the road. After a choice is made, you need to turn it into action. The way you communicate the decision to others will to some degree determine your success. Explain the thinking behind your decision and notify everyone who may be affected by your choice.

Explain the Decision

Always describe the thinking behind a final decision. It’s important to be clear about why that alternative was chosen, as opposed to others. Explaining builds trust in the leadership’s intentions and confidence that the choice was made for the benefit of the entire company.

Understanding the process, too, will help your people recognize how their own contributions were taken into account. For instance, if, during the decision-making process, team members were encouraged to question and debate each other’s ideas, they are more likely to believe that their own viewpoints were given serious consideration. Even if the participants’ viewpoints did not prevail, knowing that they were taken seriously will lend credibility to the process and acceptance of the final decision.

Notify the Right People

Ensure that everyone affected by the decision understands the decision and its consequences. New responsibilities need to be spelled out, as do performance expectations and penalties for failure. When people clearly understand expectations, they can focus on what needs to be done.

Notify everyone who is responsible for implementing the decision as well as anyone affected by it. Your list might also include the key stakeholders: members of your unit who were not part of the decision-making group, as well as senior management, department supervisors, external constituents, and even customers if they will see a change in the way you do business with them.

Your message to these individuals should include the following:

• A statement of the issue that was addressed. “Our bonus policy hasn’t effectively differentiated between high and low performers. The bonus checks of our top-quartile performers are not much higher than those of the bottom quartile.”
• A description of the objectives or decision-making criteria. “We set out with a clear objective: to restructure the bonus system to reward people relative to their contributions.”
• The names and roles of the people involved in making the decision and why they were included. “Our decision team included people with special insights into the issue: Sharon Henderson, director of benefits and compensation; Stan Halloway, our COO . . .”
• The alternatives considered (and possibly a summary of the analysis in table form). “After a period of benchmarking best-practice companies, we zeroed in on the three options shown in this chart . . .”
• An explanation of the final decision and what it means for the key stakeholders. “In the end, we found option B to be the best choice, given our objective of scaling bonuses to measurable contributions. Sharon will explain how it’s structured and what it means for you.”
• The implementation plan and time frame. “Everyone who is eligible for the bonus plan will receive a brochure explaining how it works and how it’s tied to our system of performance reviews. It will go into effect at the beginning of the next quarter.”
• Recognition of those who participated. “This new plan reflects the ideas and the hard work of many people. Every employee owes them thanks for their contributions.”
• Solicitation of feedback. “One of the things we learned is that no bonus system is perfect. This one may not be perfect either. And as we roll out this new process, we’ll know more about where it can be improved. We encourage all of you to give us feedback, since you are those most affected by this decision. As you see ways to better achieve our objective of rewarding performance, tell me, tell Sharon, tell your boss. Your ideas matter in this company.”

Take the time to create a clear, concise message. An incomplete or poorly articulated message about the decision can lead to confusion, disappointment, and unwillingness to support execution.

After a final choice has been made and communicated, some members of the team will have to give up their preferred solutions. If they perceive the decision-making process as fair, this shouldn’t be a problem. There’s plenty of evidence that perceived fairness goes a long way in defusing opposition, creating legitimacy, and paving the way for support.

Adapted from Harvard Business Essentials: Decision Making (product #7618), Harvard Business School Press, 2006.