Leadership Part 5: Decide when the team disagrees

Teams get stuck when nobody knows how a decision will be made. Agree on that first, give every option a fair hearing, then decide and move on together.

Can it be undone?

Some decisions are easy to reverse, like the poster colour or which day you meet. Make those quickly, or let the person doing the work decide. Others are hard to undo, like a date once the hall is booked, or an entry fee once sign-ups open. Slow down for those. Some people call these two-way doors and one-way doors.

Say how you'll decide, before you discuss

"We'll talk for 15 minutes, then vote." "Everyone gives their view, then I'll decide by tonight." "Kavya decides, since she's doing the work." Arguments go much more smoothly when everyone knows the rules beforehand.

Give each option a fair hearing

Meera's team is split on charging a ₹100 entry fee for the hackathon. She starts with the rule: "We talk for 15 minutes, then I decide by tonight."

• For a fee: it helps pay for food, and people who've paid are more likely to turn up.
• Against: first-years might not sign up, and getting first-years building is the whole point of the event.

She asks each side to explain the other side's best argument. Once they can, the real question is clear: how do we pay for food without putting off first-years? The decision: free for first-years, ₹100 for everyone else, and Rohan asks the sponsors to cover food.

Decide, then commit

Once it's decided, everyone backs it, including the people who argued against it. Amazon calls this "disagree and commit". Reopen a decision when new facts come in, not because someone is still unhappy about it.

Write it down

Post the decision and the main reason in the group: "Entry is free for first-years and ₹100 for others, so we cover food without putting off first-years." It stops the same debate starting again next week.

Try it

The next time your group is stuck, say how the decision will be made and by when, before anyone argues. Afterwards, post the decision and the reason in one line.

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Next: Leadership Part 6: When a teammate falls behind