Soup. It’s one of the oldest meals on the planet. And as long as there has been soup, there have been arguments about how to make it.
In fact, it was nearly 450 years ago when George Gascoigne turned his simple observation into a lasting idiom. “Too many cooks spoil the broth,” he wrote in The Life of P. Care.
Gascoigne knew what many managers and team leads have seen in the decades and centuries since — having too many people involved in one specific task can easily ruin the outcome. In corporate America, it is often called “design by committee.”
It’s a tempting approach. Good leaders solicit feedback and give all workers the opportunity to share their voices. But good instincts and the ability to make a tough choice are part of what elevates someone to leadership ranks in the first place. So where is the balance?
That’s what we asked Amanda Robertson. The service delivery manager at Origami Risk shared her thoughts on how to get the most out of the decision-making process.
Origami Risk provides SaaS solutions to users in the risk and insurance industry.
When it comes to making important decisions, how do you welcome and incorporate the voice of your team into that process?
When it comes to making important decisions and solving difficult problems, I consider my team my subject matter experts, and I talk to them in both one-on-one and team settings to gather feedback on what their challenges are around an issue. This gives them a sense of ownership in the decision and promotes a feeling of being part of the change instead of the change happening to them.
Please share an instance when you had to make a decision that would affect you and your team. How did their feedback guide you in the right direction?
Recently, my organization has gone through a period of transformation as the company has matured. This has necessitated the development of more distinct workflows and processes.
I started with a listening tour, asking my team to think about where they most often experienced challenges and roadblocks and what they felt was missing from our process that would lead to smoother delivery and more successful projects. Then, I noted the trends, developed strategies and refined the process through further discussion. It was a longer process than if I had gone about it solo, but it was essential to success. If I had depended upon only my experience, I would have missed many variables and much of the nuance. This would have required additional time and revision to land in the right place.
Not every choice can be decision by committee. How do you effectively limit the number of inputs for a leadership decision while also making sure you’re tapped into the pulse of your team?
As a leader, critical analysis is often the most crucial tool in my toolkit. It's been important to analyze which members of my team have both the experience and capacity to share input on a given topic. In order to make a choice, I need to know my team. I need to know their skills, their strengths and where their opportunities for growth lie.
As a leader, critical analysis is often the most crucial tool in my toolkit.”
Likewise, it's equally important to be able to take a large amount of inputs and determine which are the most critical to include in a decision. As with many skills, there is a lot of trial and error in learning how to keep your team involved and also be able to finalize choices, but practical experience has led me to be able to trust my instincts.
