Decisions Are More Effective When More People Are Involved from the Start

Why is it so hard to get people to change? That’s one of the most common complaints I hear from executives in other organizations. They and their boards make decisions and send out orders and then…nothing happens.

Frustrated by what they believe is their people’s inability to execute on their decisions, these executives often turn to outside help from consultants to help shepherd through these so-called “change management” initiatives.

I know because I used to work as a consultant. We used to get called in, especially when a firm was wrestling with big decisions that involved lots of changes in how people did their work, because those are particularly difficult to bring about. These efforts generally take a long time—they can run for years—and are expensive in terms of resources required. Almost certainly, more time, energy, and money is spent on change management efforts than is spent on making the decision in the first place —which is why these executives get so frustrated.

But even bringing in a consultant is no panacea. For example, in a studyconducted by IBM in 2008, researchers surveyed 1,500 executives in 15 countries and found that some 60 percent of major projects fail to achieve their objectives—which leads to billions of dollars of lost resources and productivity.

If only there were a secret to better execution.

It turns out there is. What I have learned as the CEO of Red Hat is the value of getting our associates involved in creating the solutions rather than just sharing the decisions with them after the fact. We call it inclusive decision-making.

We involve broad groups of our more than 8,300 associates in decisions up front — not later on, after the decision has already been made. The best way that I can describe how that feels is that we move most of the “change management” activities into the decision-making process itself.

I have learned there is incredible value when we get our associates involved in creating the solutions rather than just expecting them to execute on whatever management has decided they should do. By using simple technology like email and online forums as an ally, we can reach out to far more people in the organization that can fit in any one meeting room and collect feedback on the ideas we are considering implementing. And when we share our ideas and plans, we are open, honest, and frank. As a leader at Red Hat, one of the worst sins I can commit is to surprise the organization with a decision I make.

Of course, not every idea is popular—and there is often a lot of debate that ensues. But generally people just want the opportunity to voice their opinion. They expect to be heard—but not always to be heeded. Even if they didn’t like the decision that’s ultimately made, they will have had the chance to make peace with it now rather than six months, or six years down the road. That’s how you remove barriers and naysayers from the execution process.

But I’ll admit; it isn’t easy. Working this way clearly slows decision making down. It sucks up massive amounts of time for everyone. It’s frustrating. At times, it’s even infuriating. As a leader, it challenges your ego — it is not fun to have people question, question, and question every decision you make.

For example, not long after I took over as CEO of Red Hat, it became apparent to me that the organization’s mission statement did not provide a direct link to our associates’ day-to-day actions.

But I knew that if we wanted to get the entire organization engaged with a new mission statement, I couldn’t just craft one myself or with my executive team. That’s how you end up with posters in the break room that nobody pays any attention to.

 That’s why rather than crafting the company mission behind closed doors, we showed it to the whole company in draft form via our internal email list. And we asked everyone what they thought of it. We asked which parts resonated most. We asked what we should change. We asked for suggestions to make it better. Anyone could give us feedback, and many did. There was thoughtful discussion, some fantastic suggestions for wording changes, even some argument and disagreement about whether this truly reflected what the company was trying to achieve. I believe this was a conversation the company needed to have. By asking Red Hat associates to become a part of the process, and then taking some of their best feedback and using it to improve the mission itself, we gave them ownership of the mission.

I’m happy to report that using a fully transparent process to create our mission statement resulted in a huge success. It resonates with our people because it is a statement not only about what we do, but also how we do it. But you can judge for yourself:

To be the catalyst in communities of customers, contributors, and partners creating better technology the open source way.

While it took us quite an effort to get there, the result is a great example of how our associates drove a much better answer than a few executives (no matter how talented) could have done on our own. Associates were engaged and pleased with the output. In the end, not only did we create a meaningful mission statement, I would also wager that most, if not all, Red Hatters could cite it by heart.

But why would anyone go through all of that work? The simple answer is because it leads to better decisions, better engagement, and better execution. As a result, we can often turn on a dime — which gives us incredible competitive advantages. Given that, I think the more important question now becomes: Why wouldn’t you make decisions this way?

The good news is that it’s easy to get started in implementing inclusive decision-making in your organization no matter how large it is. Go out and talk to the people with whom you work. You can simply ask a few people in your organization for their thoughts on a decision you are making. They won’t question your competence or decisiveness. They’ll likely feel flattered. It’s also a continuum. That means that you, as a leader, can experiment with how broadly to include others. Try choosing an issue and openly discussing it with a broader group, whether in a staff meeting or an informal gathering. After a while, it will become natural.

And the more you practice, the more you’ll find your organization getting into a rhythm where, over time, slower decisions will truly lead to faster results.

Harvard Busines Review