Communication In Decision Making

As Duarte grew, I’d hear feedback that decisions were made too slowly, which confused me. In reality, we didn’t have a system to recognize when the team was asking for a decision. We thought they were just informing us, so decisions would languish. We weren’t ignoring them, failing to act, or even making incorrect decisions... We just didn’t realize a decision needed to be made in the first place. It dawned on the exec team that the lack of clarity during the conversation is what slows teams down. Leaders and teams can share the same language for decision-making. Much of it is about shaping recommendations that actually lead to the right type of action and making the urgency clear. Here’s the shift that changed everything… We started mapping every decision against two factors: urgency and risk. Low risk, low urgency: Decide without me. Your team runs with it. Low risk, high urgency: Inform on progress. They update you, but keep driving. High risk, low urgency: Propose for approval. They bring a recommendation, and you decide together. High risk, high urgency: Escalate immediately. You're in it together, right now. Once my team understood which quadrant a decision lived in, they knew exactly how to approach me. And I knew exactly what my role was. The framework gave us a shared language. People can’t act on ideas if they don’t understand how decisions are made. Leaders should define how recommendations move from idea to approval to action. That transparency keeps progress from stalling. Remember: One of the biggest threats to your company isn't a lack of good ideas. It's a lack of clarity. #Leadership #ExecutiveLeadership #OrganizationalCulture #DecisionMaking

Ever noticed how we sometimes change our actions or opinions to align with the group, even when we know it's not right? This phenomenon was vividly illustrated in a video where an individual changed his standing direction based on the behavior of others around him, despite it being clearly incorrect. Why does this happen? 1. Social Conformity: Humans have an inherent desire to fit in. We often conform to group norms and behaviors to avoid standing out or facing social rejection. This unconscious influence can lead us to make choices that contradict our personal beliefs or knowledge. 2. Peer Pressure: The presence of others can exert subtle pressure, making us question our own judgments and conform to group consensus, even when it’s evidently wrong. 3. Fear of Judgement: We worry about being judged or ridiculed if we deviate from the group. This fear can be powerful enough to override our better judgment and instincts. How can we counteract this? 1. Awareness: Being aware of the tendency to conform is the first step. Recognizing the influence of group dynamics can help us make more conscious and independent decisions. 2. Confidence in Own Judgment: Developing confidence in our own knowledge and instincts is crucial. Trusting our judgment can empower us to stand firm even in the face of group pressure. 3. Encourage Open Dialogue: Fostering an environment where diverse opinions are valued and encouraged can reduce the pressure to conform. Open dialogue allows for different perspectives to be heard and respected. 4. Critical Thinking: Cultivate critical thinking skills to assess situations objectively. Question the rationale behind group behaviors and make informed decisions based on evidence and logic. 5. Support Networks: Surround yourself with people who respect and support your individuality. Having a strong support network can provide the confidence needed to resist unwarranted group influence. Group dynamics are a powerful force, but with awareness and conscious effort, we can make decisions that reflect our true beliefs and values. Let’s strive for environments where individual thought is celebrated, and conformity is a choice, not a compulsion. #GroupDynamics #SocialInfluence #CriticalThinking #Leadership #PersonalDevelopment Have you experienced situations where group dynamics influenced your actions? How did you handle it?

I was Wrong about Influence. Early in my career, I believed influence in a decision-making meeting was the direct outcome of a strong artifact presented and the ensuing discussion. However, with more leadership experience, I have come to realize that while these are important, there is something far more important at play. Influence, for a given decision, largely happens outside of and before decision-making meetings. Here's my 3 step approach you can follow to maximize your influence: (#3 is often missed yet most important) 1. Obsess over Knowing your Audience Why: Understanding your audience in-depth allows you to tailor your communication, approach and positioning. How: ↳ Research their backgrounds, how they think, what their goals are etc. ↳ Attend other meetings where they are present to learn about their priorities, how they think and what questions they ask. Take note of the topics that energize them or cause concern. ↳ Engage with others who frequently interact with them to gain additional insights. Ask about their preferences, hot buttons, and any subtle cues that could be useful in understanding their perspective. 2. Tailor your Communication Why: This ensures that your message is not just heard but also understood and valued. How: ↳ Seek inspiration from existing artifacts and pickup queues on terminologies, context and background on the give topic. ↳ Reflect on their goals and priorities, and integrate these elements into your communication. For instance, if they prioritize efficiency, highlight how your proposal enhances productivity. ↳Ask yourself "So what?" or "Why should they care" as a litmus test for relatability of your proposal. 3. Pre-socialize for support Why: It allows you to refine your approach, address potential objections, and build a coalition of support (ahead of and during the meeting). How: ↳ Schedule informal discussions or small group meetings with key stakeholders or their team members to discuss your idea(s). A casual coffee or a brief virtual call can be effective. Lead with curiosity vs. an intent to respond. ↳ Ask targeted questions to gather feedback and gauge reactions to your ideas. Examples: What are your initial thoughts on this draft proposal? What challenges do you foresee with this approach? How does this align with our current priorities? ↳ Acknowledge, incorporate and highlight the insights from these pre-meetings into the main meeting, treating them as an integral part of the decision-making process. What would you add? PS: BONUS - Following these steps also expands your understanding of the business and your internal network - both of which make you more effective. --- Follow me, tap the (🔔) Omar Halabieh for daily Leadership and Career posts.

Microsoft just promoted 4 sales leaders to EVP. The press release buried the real story. One line stood out: "Keep the feedback loop between customers and product decisions as small as possible." Read that again. Microsoft—a company with 220,000 employees—is restructuring its entire sales leadership to shrink the distance between what customers need and what product builds. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗥𝗢𝘀: Microsoft isn't doing this for fun. They're doing it because "AI is being adopted at extraordinary speed, and customers expect these capabilities to come to life in their business faster than ever before." Translation: The old model—sales captures feedback, passes it to product, product builds it 18 months later—is dead. Customers won't wait. Competitors won't wait. Your org structure can't wait either. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗽 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝘀: • Reps hear what customers actually need • That insight gets buried in CRM notes nobody reads • Product builds features based on internal roadmaps • Customers churn because their problems never get solved • Everyone blames "alignment issues" The loop is too long. The signal gets lost. Deals die in the gap. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀: When you elevate sales leaders to EVP and give them direct lines to product strategy, you're not just promoting people. You're compressing the feedback loop by design. Customer pain → Sales leadership → Product decision. No 6-month committee reviews. No "we'll add it to the backlog." No lost-in-translation moments. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗥𝗢 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: How long does it take for customer feedback from your sellers to influence a product decision at your company? If the answer is "months" or "I don't know," your feedback loop is a competitive liability. The companies winning in AI aren't just deploying faster. They're learning faster. And learning speed is a function of feedback loop length. How compressed is your customer-to-product feedback loop?

This one mindset changed how I lead teams. Influence isn't loud. It's patient. I’ve wanted to be influential at various points in my career.   And I used to think that influence was about perfect arguments. Flawless logic. The right facts, delivered with confidence.   And sometimes, that worked. But not often enough.   The more I led teams, the more I realised influence isn’t about convincing people. It’s about guiding them to convince themselves.   People don’t like being told what to do. They like feeling in control.   So, instead of pushing my ideas, I started asking better questions.   Like the time I needed a team to pivot on a project: – I didn’t lecture them. – I just asked, “What outcome do we really want here?” – That simple question sparked a discussion. – And they landed on the exact conclusion I had in mind. But it wasn’t my idea anymore. It was theirs.   And that’s the point. Influence isn’t about being the smartest person in the room.   It’s about creating space where others feel smart. Where their ideas matter.   Sometimes, I’d say one thing. Then stay silent. No rush to fill the gap. Just letting the idea sit.   And over time? I’d hear my words echoed back – not because I pushed, but because the idea took root.   The biggest shift? 👉 Realising that influence feels effortless when you stop trying to control the outcome. It’s not about being right. It’s about creating alignment. So, if you’re struggling to get people on board, maybe it’s not about trying harder. Maybe it’s about trying differently. Ask questions. Pause. Let ideas breathe. You don’t need to push. You just need to guide. Influence works best when people believe the choice was theirs all along.   How do you influence? Drop your thoughts in the comments. ⭐️ Follow me (Mostyn Wilson) and subscribe to my newsletter (link above) for more like this.

Misunderstandings happen more often than they should. Why? Because we often forget a key principle in communication: UNDERSTAND OTHERS BEFORE SEEKING TO BE UNDERSTOOD. This simple change can transform our interactions, leading to stronger relationships, better collaboration, and the ability to tap into diverse perspectives. When we feel truly heard and understood at work, we're more likely to do our best and share our unique insights. If this idea is so important, why don’t we use it more often? Here are a few reasons: (a) Time Pressure: In an environment where our calendars look like heavily-stacked pancakes, we're focused on meeting deadlines and getting results. This urgency can lead us to make quick decisions instead of taking the time to listen and understand. (b) Ego and Self-Interest: We often prioritize our own opinions, driven by the need to prove our competence or authority. This focus on advancing our own agendas can make us overlook the value of understanding others. (c) Lack of Awareness or Skills: Many people aren't aware of their listening habits or how their communication style impacts others. Plus, active listening and empathy are skills that require practice and intention. (d) Emotional Barriers: Stress, anxiety, or frustration can create barriers to understanding. When overwhelmed by these emotions, it can be hard to empathize with others or listen effectively. (e) Cognitive Biases: Biases like confirmation bias can prevent us from considering other viewpoints objectively, making understanding difficult. Here's the good news! We can overcome these barriers and build better habits. Here are three tips to do just that: 1.    Practice Active Listening: Truly listen to others without thinking about your response. Focus on what is being said, ask questions, and reflect on the information to gain deeper insights. 2.    Ask Questions to Understand: Instead of assuming you know what others are thinking, ask open-ended questions to invite them to share their thoughts and feelings. This encourages a deeper understanding of their perspectives and builds trust. 3.    Encourage Open Dialogue: Create spaces where team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas. Be vulnerable. Encourage diverse perspectives and value each person's contribution. By seeking to understand first, we strengthen collaboration and ensure everyone feels valued and motivated to do their best. #understanding #relationships #collaboration #energy #humanbehavior #workplace #leadership #teamwork #skills #listening #empathy #dialogue

Michael Beer, a Harvard Business School professor, identified six key barriers that quietly undermine organisational strategy execution. These "Silent Killers" prevent businesses from achieving their full potential. ☑ Unclear or Conflicting Strategic Priorities ↳ Misaligned goals confuse employees and dilute focus. ☑ An Ineffective Senior Team ↳ Dysfunctional leadership undermines collaboration and trust. ☑ A Top-Down or Laissez-Faire Leadership Style ↳ Overbearing or disengaged leadership limits innovation and buy-in. ☑ Poor Vertical Communication ↳ Fear or bureaucracy prevents honest feedback, leaving leaders in the dark. ☑ Poor Cross-Functional Coordination ↳ Silos and unclear responsibilities create inefficiencies and delays. ☑ Inadequate Leadership Development ↳ A lack of skilled leaders weakens change efforts and momentum. How to Overcome These Killers Beer emphasizes the importance of an open and honest dialogue to address these barriers: - Clarify priorities to align the organization. - Build cohesive leadership teams that foster trust and collaboration. - Encourage two-way communication for transparency and feedback. - Break down organizational silos to improve coordination. - Invest in leadership development to ensure long-term success. Strategy is only as strong as its execution. Identifying and addressing these barriers is critical to driving meaningful progress. Ps. If you like content like this, please follow me 🙏

Why didn’t my idea land even though it was correct? Have you ever asked yourself that? Or, here's another - Why do less competent people shape decisions? One of the reasons ideas don't land and decisions aren't shaped by the most competent is that being right early can diminish your influence.    We all assume that the smartest person in the room becomes the most influential.   But research tells a different story.   In group decision studies, individuals with high expertise and confidence do not always gain influence simply because they are correct. In fact, they may gain less.   People often underweight correct information from high-performing teammates or fail to adjust influence in proportion to actual expertise.   Influence doesn’t operate like a meritocracy. It follows social and cognitive dynamics. Accuracy alone isn’t a social cue. Groups rely on heuristics (cues like confidence, communication style, and how others perceive you) to decide whose input to follow. Expertise can be invisible or misread. Early accuracy can backfire. When someone is too right too soon, others may feel threatened intellectually, experience comparison pressure, or infer status threat.   Instead of opening minds, early correctness can trigger defensiveness especially in teams of peers.   In fact, research on how social influence evolves in tasks shows that influence isn’t strictly proportional to performance. Groups update who matters not only based on accuracy but on how that accuracy is perceived socially over time.   So yes, the smartest voice in the room doesn’t always shape the outcome. The strategically interpreted voice does.   In practice, influence grows when people feel ownership of the insight, not simply when they hear the correct answer from someone else.   This flips a ton of leadership advice on its head.   It’s not enough to be right. Leading with early accuracy isn’t always persuasive. Influence often accrues after people feel they discovered or endorsed the idea themselves. If you want influence that lasts, start thinking less about winning with facts and more about how people want to arrive at a conclusion with you.  

Has this ever happened to you? You share an idea in a meeting… and it gets dismissed. Minutes later, someone else says the same thing, phrased slightly differently, and the room embraces it as “brilliant.” I used to think the best idea won the meeting. I was wrong. Early in my career, this happened so often I had to ask: What am I missing? The answer wasn’t better ideas. It was a better understanding of how decisions are actually made. Facts inform. Emotions decide. Here’s what I do now to make sure an idea actually lands: Pre-wire the room The meeting starts before the meeting. I learned this during my consulting days: if the stakes are high, don’t let the group hear your idea for the first time in public. Socialize it one-on-one in advance. Build context before conclusion Don’t drop a “truth bomb.” Help people follow your thinking. Connect your idea to what’s already been said, and what others already value. Secure small “yeses” As Dale Carnegie taught, alignment beats brilliance. People support ideas they feel they helped build. Lean into the friction When you meet pushback, don’t push harder. Invite it. Understanding resistance is the only way to resolve it. Warm up the audience Preparation isn’t just about your content - it’s about your connection to the room. The proof: Years ago, I attended a hotel association meeting where I knew no one. I was early, so I greeted every person who walked through the door. I didn’t even realize there was an election that day. I was elected, simply because I had already connected with the room. That experience stayed with me. The bottom line: Decisions aren’t just about what you say. They’re about whether people are ready to hear you. The best ideas don’t win in the meeting. They win before the meeting ever begins. Have you ever had an idea ignored, only to hear it praised moments later from someone else? #Leadership #Influence #ExecutivePresence #Communication #PersonalGrowth

Miscommunication in meetings can arise from various factors, leading to confusion, misunderstandings, and ineffective outcomes. Verbal Communication Issues During a meeting, John mentioned that the project deadline was "soon," but failed to specify the exact date. This ambiguity led team member Emily to assume the deadline was next week, while others thought it was in two weeks. This miscommunication resulted in delayed tasks and confusion. Nonverbal Communication Barriers In a meeting, team leader Michael crossed his arms and avoided eye contact while discussing the new marketing strategy. Team member Sarah misinterpreted this as disinterest, when in fact Michael was simply tired from a late night. This nonverbal cue led Sarah to doubt the strategy's potential. Cultural and Language Differences In a global meeting, Japanese team member Taro used the phrase "hai, so desu ne" (yes, that's right), which was misinterpreted by American team members as agreement. However, in Japanese culture, this phrase can also mean "I understand" without implying agreement. This cultural nuance led to confusion and delayed decision-making. Technological Issues During a virtual meeting, poor internet connectivity caused audio delays and dropped calls. Team member David missed crucial information and couldn't contribute to the discussion, leading to frustration and feelings of exclusion. Psychological and Emotional Factors Team member Rachel was stressed about meeting the project deadline and became defensive when colleague Chris suggested changes. Her emotional response led to misinterpretation of Chris's intentions, causing unnecessary tension and conflict. Organizational and Structural Issues A meeting lacking a clear agenda and objectives led to meandering discussions and unclear action items. Team members left with different understandings of their responsibilities, resulting in duplicated efforts and wasted resources. To prevent miscommunication, it's essential to: 1. Clarify language and expectations. 2. Encourage open feedback. 3. Use visual aids and documentation. 4. Foster a positive meeting culture. 5. Consider cultural and language differences. 6. Ensure technological compatibility. 7. Address psychological and emotional factors. 8. Establish clear meeting structures and processes. By recognizing these potential miscommunication pitfalls, teams can take proactive steps to ensure effective communication and productive meetings. #emotionalintelligence #softskills #communication #hiring #leadership