{"id":2956,"date":"2021-12-28T12:26:58","date_gmt":"2021-12-28T12:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teamly.com\/blog\/?p=2956"},"modified":"2022-01-07T12:19:54","modified_gmt":"2022-01-07T12:19:54","slug":"communication-and-team-decision-making","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teamly.com\/blog\/communication-and-team-decision-making\/","title":{"rendered":"The Value of Communication in Team Decision-Making"},"content":{"rendered":"

To most of us, understanding the inner workings of decision-making may appear like a complicated task. How do you even do that with a process that\u2019s so hard to measure or express in hard numbers? How do we know that we\u2019ve made the right decision at the right time? Well, we can\u2019t, just because there are so many things that can affect the outcome of a problem\u2014organizational structure, past experiences, cognitive biases, and so forth.<\/p>\n

However, that is not to say that there aren\u2019t ways to confidently improve the quality of a team\u2019s decisions. On the contrary, according to research, the path to better decision-making lies through effective communication. And this is precisely what this blog post is all about.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s dive right in, shall we?<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

<\/span>What is decision-making?<\/span><\/h2>\n

The process of decision-making has been extensively studied by a wide array of disciplines, ranging from mathematics and sociology to psychology, economics, and beyond. Philosophers try to understand what our decisions say about us. Historians scrutinize how leaders choose to act in moments of pressure. Organizational behavior attempts to understand what people within a company can do to achieve better outcomes.<\/p>\n

As employees, we make dozens and even hundreds of conscious and unconscious decisions on a daily basis that have a massive effect on a company\u2019s success and overall performance.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also great diversity in terms of the types of decisions we make. On the one hand, we can categorize decisions based on the effects they have in an organization\u2014they can be strategic, tactical, and operational. The first are the ones that set the course of a company. The second has to do with how things will be done. The third are the ones that employees make to keep the organization running.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, we can think of types of choices based on the way they are made. Some people like to follow their gut, which pretty much relies on intuition to guide them through a complicated situation. In contrast, others choose a more analytical, thoughtful style of business communication and decision-making.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s fair to say that both have their merits and shortcomings. When people follow a more intuitive path, they often fall prey to cognitive biases, logical fallacies, and so forth. However, an analytical and calculated style may not at all times be applicable, especially when people find themselves in situations with no precedent\u2014this is where leaders should follow their gut and make choices that \u201cappear\u201d right.<\/p>\n

The point of this post, however, isn\u2019t to defend or attack any particular type of decision-making. Instead, we\u2019re interested in bringing the people that surround a leader to the front and underlining the value of effective team communication while deciding upon important outcomes as a collective.<\/p>\n

And to make a stronger point, we\u2019ve got some research to back it up.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

<\/span>What does research have to say?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Dan Lovallo and Olivier Sibony are behavioral economists who have conducted a five-year study that documented and analyzed 1,048 business decisions<\/a> and how they affected the organization\u2019s revenue, profit, and market share. The main idea behind the study was to understand how people approach making complicated business-related decisions and surface the kinds of biases managers are most susceptible to.<\/p>\n

More importantly, this study didn\u2019t take into account minute issues like the line of stationery a company should buy\u2014these choices revolved around critical problems such as whether a company should expand into a new country, make changes to the organizational structure, or release and develop a new product or service. The study also thoroughly analyzed the outcomes of this decision and how they impacted ROI, profit, and a variety of other essential parameters.<\/p>\n

The researchers also tried to understand how managers made important decisions and what the process was like.<\/p>\n

A few questions they asked the participants of the study were:<\/p>\n