Preventing a proposed decision from becoming a reality is an art form in many organizations. Disruptive team members learn to use the group’s desire for consensus to block, delay, postpone, or stonewall a decision. If, as the song says, there are 50 ways to leave your lover, then there must be 100 ways to thwart a decision. The end result is a team that stalls and can’t move forward on a decision or strategy critical to its success.
You bring up an interesting point with this question. It usually is the team lead or the project manager -- and if there ever is this log jam than it means that leader has failed to define their own role prior to, right?
I like this post. I’ve used the same material in my leadership classes and with clients. Every leader (project, manager or executive) one of the first orders is to let the person or team know what they need from them. Is the team, making a recommendation, being consulted or informed about a decision. Doing so keeps the lines of communication clear and prevents death by delay in decision making.
What are some good names you all might have heard for this role other than "decision owner"?
Or is that the best name for this out there?
The brave men who navigated rivers and logs from logging camps to the mills, preventing logjams from happening, were commonly called "river pigs."
Good luck introducing that name in your next team meeting!
https://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/587
You bring up an interesting point with this question. It usually is the team lead or the project manager -- and if there ever is this log jam than it means that leader has failed to define their own role prior to, right?
I like this post. I’ve used the same material in my leadership classes and with clients. Every leader (project, manager or executive) one of the first orders is to let the person or team know what they need from them. Is the team, making a recommendation, being consulted or informed about a decision. Doing so keeps the lines of communication clear and prevents death by delay in decision making.
Hi Denise.
Do you see the decision owner and the project lead as always being the same person?
Nope. Sometimes they can be the same person depending on the role in the organization.
Can you establish a clock as being your decision mover?
This point was actually brought up at the end of our discussion here: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1OwxWwXpwOnxQ
Thanks for your comment, Jennifer.
We took 15 minutes on spaces to discuss... https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1OwxWwXpwOnxQ