Decision Rights (part deux)

If your organization makes good decisions quickly and without looking back, then please carry on smartly. But I have found that poorly-defined decision rights are at the root of many dysfunctional team dynamics.

Decision Rights (part 1)

We were going at it cats and dogs. Jim had hired me to run a change project for a client, and our views on how to best support the client were diametrically opposed. We were both frustrated, and fiercely arguing our points of view.

Story Time

Recently I helped a client’s executives craft key messages about a disruptive change they were implementing. It struck me that the change was complex, the messaging was complex, and that the organization’s employees were going to be lost and confused.

So I drew a picture on the white board and told a story…

Buried Deep

Paula Haffley is a Physician’s Assistant at Clarian Bariatrics. She writes about patients who come to her after their bariatric surgery to complain about hard masses showing up on their bodies that didn’t used to be there. They typically are very worried about their health. Cancer? Deformity?

Paula then explains to them that what they are feeling is a clavicle, or a sternum, or a patella. The patients have lived for so long with these anatomical landmarks covered in layers of flesh that they forgot about them.

Disruption

We all have a mental model of what the future holds. This model is based on our experiences, our assumptions, and our expectations. Depending on our personality and circumstances, we may be more or less conscious of this model.

Change introduces uncertainty about the future. It disrupts our mental model, like a careless child bumping a chessboard.