This is the third in a series of blog posts for leaders about overcoming obstacles to collaboration.

Decision making. For many leaders, this is a critical test of their collaborative acumen.

As a leader, I loved having the ultimate say about things I cared about;  sometimes I could have lived without  the tricky dilemmas I faced when having to make a tough call. 

Here’s an example of a leader who stepped up to that challenge.  

As the Director of a research unit, Dave had a decision to make—whether or not to invest in a costly new piece of equipment for one of his department’s labs. If he funded it, he’d wipe out his capital budget for the year.  The lab manager, a high powered scientist with an impressive track record, had strong opinions about everything, made convincing arguments, and usually won a debate. Also, he suspected two other departments were about to seek funding on similar capital purchases.  Dave’s instinct was to fall back to his most natural mode—to do a little research and then make the decision on his own.  After all, that’s how he got where he is today.  But his managers have gotten far ahead of his own technical expertise, and their immersion in the work of their teams gave them insight he couldn’t possibly have on his own.

Dave’s response: Instead of making a unilateral decision, Dave decided to have a talk with each leader requesting capital funding.  He let them know he was collecting information to help him make this tough investment decision.  He set some criteria for his decision, which he confirmed with his boss when he let her know about his decision making process in their regular meeting (she’s a good advisor and she doesn’t like surprises).  When he made his decision, he informed each leader about his rationale and whether funding was likely in the next fiscal year. A couple of people weren’t very happy, but they trusted that he’d made every effort to be fair and thoughtful in his approach.   

Here's a decision making tip:  Decide in advance how you will make a complex decision and inform the critical stakeholders of how much (or how little) say they have in the final outcome.  Without that level of clarity, people can be led to believe that seeking their input equals a tacit commitment to act on their wishes.  They are much more likely to accept a decision they don’t like if they know the rules by which you are deciding, and if they believe you were fully informed.