Mike Staver's Blog

One of the challenges most leaders should  face is the extent to which they choose to collaborate on decision making vs deciding to just make the decision and hand it down. I was talking with a guy this morning that I have huge respect for. He owns a company marketing company and is incredibly creative. He had done some work for me on a new tag line. When I asked him if he thought I should just make a decision or “shop it around” he said maybe only ask one person what they think. He said that often by the time creativity is subjected to the massess however great or small it is usually diluted. Leadership, parenting, etc is all about balancing the two. Over collaboration is inefficeint as it takes to long and is often burdened with dilution. On the other hand being too authoratative alienates and excludes people. It is not an either proposition it’s an and proposition. It’s about balancing both. The collaborative leader with a countermeasure of being authoritative is key to good decision making and progress. Ask yourself this, where do you tend to lean? What type of communicator are you and how does that effect those you influence? Maybe it would be a good idea to pay attention to that the next time a decision has to be made.