From Chaos to Clarity: How Decider Poker Can Help Your Team Make Great Decisions!
Have you ever found yourself stuck in endless debates over who should make a decision? Have you wasted precious hours arguing over matters that scarcely affect you? Have you felt the frustration of a decision-making process bogged down by too many voices? ..
Following the many impulses gathered during many workshops, freelancing jobs and at the Manage Agile 2024 conference, I decided to finalise my thoughts into a brand new method: the Decider Poker 💎🛠️
This method swiftly identifies the key players in any decision-making process and determines the necessary level of interaction. With this clarity, you can seamlessly implement tailored processes like the Advice Process or Systemic Consensus.
🎯 Imagine a scenario where every decision is made with precision and efficiency. No more endless debates or wasted hours. Decider Poker empowers you to quickly pinpoint who truly needs to be involved in the decision-making process. It helps you understand the depth of interaction required, ensuring that only the necessary voices are heard.
By adopting Decider Poker, you can transform your decision-making landscape. It brings a structured approach to what often feels like chaos. With this method, you can navigate through the complexities of group dynamics and emerge with clear, actionable decisions. The result is a more streamlined, effective, and satisfying decision-making experience for everyone involved.
So, why continue to struggle with inefficient decision-making processes? Embrace Decider Poker and unlock the potential for more productive and harmonious outcomes.
How does it work?
- Assemble Your Participants: Begin by gathering all the individuals who will be involved in the decision-making process. This could be a team meeting, a workshop, or any setting where collective input is valuable. Ensure that everyone understands the purpose of the exercise and is ready to participate.
- Let everyone secretly select a Decider Level: Introduce each participant to the five “Decider Level”: these levels represent different degrees of involvement or authority in the decision-making process. Ask each person to review the options and, without revealing their choice to others, select the level they believe is most appropriate for them in this context.
- Simultaneously Reveal Choices: Once everyone has made their selection, have all participants reveal their chosen Decider Level at the same time. This simultaneous reveal ensures that no one is influenced by others’ choices and that all voices are considered equally.
- Engage in Discussion and Repeat as Necessary: After the reveal, facilitate a discussion among the participants. Encourage them to explain their choices and consider the perspectives of others. This dialogue helps to clarify roles, responsibilities, and the rationale behind each level of involvement. If needed, repeat the process to refine the decision-making structure further, ensuring that everyone is comfortable with their role and the overall approach.
By following these steps, Decider Poker helps streamline the decision-making process, making it more efficient and inclusive. It ensures that the right people are involved to the right extent, reducing unnecessary debates and fostering a more collaborative environment.
But what if …?
… several person selected the level 1
You have made a potential conflict visible, and you can be happy that you have done so very early in the process. I recommend then to carry one the discussion in a smaller round with the people that chose the level 1 or 2: They will have to debate and eventually to agree.
… everyone selected the level 4–5
You have made transparent that the decision is not deemed important by the participants. Reflect on whether you need to take the decision anyway, or if you are currently running a wasteful initiative.
… participants don’t feel confortable with level 3
The level 3 is really tricky: in some more classical context, level 3 is an invitation for deciders and managers to empower their team whilst keeping some control. They are not likely to use the veto, but they love to have the possibility.
On some other context, one could question why a participant should get a veto right, but still not be involved in the decision process. Their feeling is correct, and they now have an amazing opportunity to discuss it all together and uncover why one of them needs this level of control.
… I always end up deciding, and the other participants always delegate
The decider poker is great at making this transparent, and you could use this to have a serious debate with the other participants. At the same time, try reducing your decider level towards 3 or 4.
If you tend to select level 1 on most decision, you made transparent your tendancy to micro-management. In this case, you should reflect if this is really what you want, and if this is the best for your team.
… we work only remotely
As it doesn’t rely on cards or other material, the Decider Poker works just fine remotely. Simply invite the participants to show their hands on camera, write their level in the chat, or choose a level on a digital board.
The Decider Poker is a very easy and non intrusive method: it doesn’t need cards or canvases, it works on-site and remotely, it works in agile and classical environments. What you need is only the poster that you can download here for free:
👉 https://1drv.ms/b/s!Ap0moOtMihsuvpFW0sjC1-GnSKimkA?e=3pfRQX
Have a go at it and let me know how it went 😬
