Filters Are Not Just For Coffee, But Also for Decisions

Perusing Linkedin recently, I came across an entry by Michael Walker, former Head of San Francisco Day School and Harding Academy. Walker, much like me, is interested in teams and how they can function at their top level. In his entry, he talked about decision making frameworks. That got me thinking…

It is true that high functioning teams do not approach each decision de novo. Rather, they have either an explicit or an implicit method of coming to decisions. Unsurprisingly, I believe that decision making ought to be explicit. The first step in clarifying decision making is to be clear whether a decision is even needed. 

When raising an issue with the team, the presenter should be clear about the team’s role. It can range from:

• I am informing you of the decision.

• I would like your input, but I am going to decide.

• I am raising this issue to delegate it to someone on the team, and we need to decide who.

• I am looking for the team to make a decision. 

Being clear about the expectations for the team will save time and energy, allowing the team to be more effective and efficient. 

The second step is to have pre-established decision filters. These remind the team of what to consider when debating a decision. For instance, when I was at Duke School, after the team reached a decision about an issue, we would test the decision against these three filters:

1. Will this decision help Duke School inspire the next generation of problem solvers for our complex world? (This is Duke School’s mission.)

2. Will this decision help Duke School be more financially sustainable in five years?

3. Is the difficulty of implementing this decision outweighed by its benefits?

Applying these filters ensured that we remembered our “first principles” when making decisions. It often prevented us from deciding an issue to please a small group of people rather than basing it on what was best for the institution. 

It is also important to note that we took the time to apply the filters only on decisions that affected a good number of constituents. Applying the filters on every decision is too time consuming.

Be explicit about what criteria your team uses to make decisions. It will improve your team’s functioning.