3 tips for clarifying your decision-making authority

Imagine you have recently taken a new role in an organisation. You started with enthusiasm, agreed your goals and tried several creative ideas – but then met with resistance. You believed you had a clear brief and mandate – but several departments felt you were treading on their toes. How to tackle this challenge? One approach is to meet with your sponsors and stakeholders to make clear contracts about your decision-making authority. Let’s explore how to take these steps.

* You can agree with your sponsor about your decision-making authority.

You are prepared to be accountable – but you also need autonomy and authority. So it is vital to clarify the extent of your decision-making authority. Bearing this in mind, arrange a meeting with your key sponsor – the person who can hire or fire you. Looking at your role, get their views on the following topics.

The areas where I have the autonomy to make decisions are:

*

The areas where I need to consult with others are:

*

The grey areas are:

*

“The first step was to agree on the specific activities where I had the power to act autonomously,” said one person who tackled this exercise with their sponsor. “This proved relatively easy – though there was slightly less freedom than I had imagined.”

“The second step was to focus on the areas where I had to ‘consult’. My sponsor agreed it was important for as few people as possible to be involved in making certain decisions, otherwise there would be paralysis. So we agreed on: a) Where people should be fully involved in making a decision: b) Where people should be given a sense of ‘ownership’, but I had the final say: c) Where they had the final say and I had to try to work with them to get a ‘win-win’.”

“The third step was to explore the ‘grey areas’ – those where it was not clear who could make a decision. These were creating difficulty. So it was important to move these issues into either (a) or (b) - otherwise there would be continued confusion.”

You will, of course, take this step in your own way. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to make clear contracts with
my sponsor about my decision-making authority are:

*

*

*

After agreeing on these areas with your key sponsor – or sponsors – it is time to move onto the next step.

* You can agree with the various stakeholders about your decision-making authority.

“My sponsor paved the way for these meetings,” said the person mentioned above. “Before I approached the other stakeholders – such as the heads of departments – he sent out a request for help. This read something like:

‘As you know, we are all aiming to achieve a clear goal. This calls for making clear contracts about each person’s – and each department’s - decision-making authority. Bearing this in mind, x will be meeting each of you to agree on the respective areas of decision-making authority. At the moment, you each have areas: a) Where you have the autonomy to make decisions; b) Where you need to consult with others; c) Where the areas are somewhat ‘grey’. I would like you to work together with x to make clear contracts about the respective areas of decision-making authority. Then we can quickly get the show on the road. I look forward to seeing the outcomes of your meetings.’

“My sponsor also talked with individual department heads to ease the way,” continued the person. “That meant I was welcomed, rather than pushed away. Although there were still some challenges, we worked together to find ‘win-win’ solutions. We managed to work-out the respective decision-making authority.”

You will, of course, take this step in your own way. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to make clear contracts with the
various stakeholders about my/our decision-making authority are:

*

*

*

* You can continue to make & follow clear contracts about your decision-making authority.

Unexpected events – or poor communication – can jeopardise working relationships. So it is important: a) To keep following the clear contracts; b) To keep connecting with key sponsors and stakeholders to update how things are going and, if necessary, review or change the contracts; c) To anticipate future events and clarify the respective responsibilities when tackling these challenges. Everybody will then be clear about their roles in delivering the results. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to continue to follow and make
clear contracts about my/our decision-making authority are:

*

*

*

Great organisations focus on clarity, contracting and concrete results. This includes ensuring that people are clear on their decision-making authority. Such clarity provides an excellent platform for achieving success.