by Jared Goralnick
One of the problems being in a super small company is that a lot of decisions are made exclusively by the SBO (small business owner). But just because the final decision is made by the SBO doesn’t mean that the process of deciding needs to be an independent one. Here are two less obvious reasons for involving other people in the process:
- A scheduled meeting may make the SBO show up with the research needed to make a decision at the meeting (i.e, s/he has a deadline for completing the research)
- A meeting creates accountability that would not exist if the decision were made solely between the SBO and the SBO.
The result of these two items is often that a decision will be made sooner than it would have if the SBO had made the decision him/herself.
In the past (and to this day) I work with outside consultants and close friends to help make important decisions. But I don’t think I’ve relied on my coworkers enough for decisions that don’t relate to specific projects they’re involved with. For instance, when automating a client’s proposal process we might discuss what custom features that particular client needs. However, rarely will I sit down with coworkers to brainstorm what general features most proposal processes should incorporate.
As such, many of the bigger processes for SET (i.e., the things that don’t relate to specific projects but are still day-to-day operations) that I’d like to script out never get done. There’s not much push and I don’t like wasting people’s time outside the company with them.
The answer I’m suggesting here is to look at coworkers who are there anyways and bring them into these projects just like any other project.
I see that many of my larger clients decide everything in meetings. It’s not the best approach–taking people away from their work for a decision that’s not particularly relevant to them. But it does bring accountability into the picture and it alleviates procrastination.
I think that in the coming months I’m going to have more conversations/meetings with coworkers about things I’m working on–just to force me to make some decisions sooner than later. Even if I know I could do it myself, it’ll force the decisions to take place sooner. And, if all goes well, we’ll likely arrive at better conclusions and everyone will feel more a part of the team.
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