Recognize when your team is making a decision

- The most foundational aspect of teamwork is decision-making. If you can master this one skill, you'll unlock your relationships with others and make the potential possible. It all starts with knowing when your team is making a decision. Do you know how to recognize that moment? Here are three shifts in conversation that will alert you during a meeting that your team is in the midst of a decision. First, people are offering different perspectives or taking sides. This tells you they've begun to think about pathways forward. They might say, "My experience tells me," or "My opinion is." When you hear people taking sides or forming opinions, you'll know you're facing a decision. Second, you'll hear people weighing different potential paths forward. They might say, "There are a few ways we could look at this," or "If we went in this direction." When you hear people outlining pros and cons, you'll know you're evaluating a decision. And third, people are discussing potential consequences of the pathways. You might hear, "This might result in," or, "Well, remember the last time "we did something like that, the outcome was." When you hear your team thinking about the outcome of a decision, you'll know they're identifying possible impacts and results. Use these three tips to recognize when your team has moved from discussion into decision making and to bring the team's awareness toward better problem-solving together.