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Theory Decisions

Theory: Making decisions

Making decisions together as a team

Decision-making can be described as a process within which a decision is made.

How can decision-making be organized in teams or small groups?

There are many different decision-making methods - for example:

  • Consultative individual decision or autocracy (get input and then decide alone)

  • Captain Picard (have input given in the meeting; if no consensus can be reached in the group, the manager decides alone)

  • Consent (decided when no one has an objection)

  • Consensus (a decision is made when everyone agrees)

  • Majority decision

  • Advice process (Any person can make a decision as long as 1. everyone affected by the decision agrees and 2. all technical experts agree)

  • Wait and see (it can be strategically wise not to decide)

  • Chance (coin toss, dice, draw matches)

Sources: [ALL GERMAN]

Question types

Every decision is preceded by a question. What should be decided? Is the objective clear to everyone? Should there be a yes/no vote - or an open discussion on a topic?

How a question is asked or formulated is therefore an important factor in the decision-making process

How do I ask specific questions?

It's the wording of the questions that counts!

A basic distinction is made between two types of questions: closed and open questions.

Closed questions

Fixed answers are given for closed questions. Respondents select the appropriate answer from the answers provided.

Examples of closed questions:
Have you ever been to France? Answers: Yes, No

Which color do you like better? Options: Blue or red?

When should you use closed questions?

Closed questions are best used if the respondents are already familiar with the topic and you want to get them to choose between several options, for example.

What are the advantages of closed questions?

  • Measurable responses that can be easily evaluated

  • Respondents can quickly select an answer (not very time-consuming)

  • Opinion poll on self-defined content

What are the disadvantages of closed questions?

  • The content of the answers must already be known to the respondents

  • The result can be specifically influenced by specifying the possible answers.

  • No new content / ideas can be introduced.

Open questions

No fixed answers are given for open questions. Respondents can therefore give feedback freely and contribute their opinions and ideas. Open questions are often asked with the classic "W questions" (Why? How? What for? Who? What? When? Where? With what? By what?).

Examples of open questions:

  • Why do you like going to France?

  • What other solutions could you think of for the problem?

  • What else should we include in the project?

When should you use open questions?

Open-ended questions are well suited to gathering information, ideas and content on a topic, or to gauge the mood/opinion of a group.

What are the advantages of open questions?

  • No influencing of respondents through predetermined answers

  • Survey enables the collection of new content, ideas and insights

What are the disadvantages of open questions?

  • Time-consuming evaluation of the responses

  • Respondents must invest more time to answer questions à possibly lower participation rate

  • Only suitable for statistical evaluations to a limited extent

Tips for formulating questions

Think carefully in advance about what you want to achieve with your question and what kind of answers you need.

Regardless of whether you use closed questions or open questions, both types of questions have one thing in common: the wording of the questions must be well thought out. This is because you will only receive adequate answers if the questions are formulated in a targeted manner.

  • Pay attention to this:
    Only address one issue in one question

  • Formulate questions in a non-judgmental way (What is your opinion of the strange statement by xy...)

  • Use short and concise wording

  • Choose simple and clear language

  • No double negation (Are you against ... remaining prohibited?)

  • No leading questions (Don't you agree that ...)

You can find more information here: Asking the right questions: Examples & tips for clear communication (business-wissen.de) [GERMAN]

Methods

If it must be quick and easy, you can use the following methods without much preparation.

  • Make a survey during or directly after an appointment instead of a week later.

  • Voting via thumbs up/thumbs down

  • Alternative: Camera on / off

  • Tip: Ask closed questions.

  • Vote on a scale (e.g. from 1-10) in the chat

  • Vote with reactions to posts

  • Voting via emoji in the chat

  • Tip: Write the question in the chat (in bold) before everyone writes their answers so that you can count them better

There are also some elaborate methods that can guide you in the decision-making process. We list a few examples here:

Tools

We have pulled together a list of tools that we have used to make decisions. Of course, there are many more great tools out there. Therefore, the list is not exhaustive and is only intended to help you get started.