By Frank Habermann
Navigating the intricate landscape of making numerous critical choices regarding business partners, technology platforms, and product features is an enduring challenge for tech entrepreneurs and leaders. It starts with strategic planning and extends to the very heart of operational business. With so many decisions to make, it’s crucial to stay on top of things. And the question inevitably arises: where should one assert autonomy, and when is it wiser to engage the collaborative wisdom of others? In this Leadership BRIEF, we introduce Decision Hats, a novel tool that helps to easily organize participation in decision-making processes, so that leaders can free themselves from unnecessary burdens and concentrate on the things that really matter.
One of the most important leadership tasks is effective decision-making. Among the myriad choices leaders face, the allocation of decision-making authority is particularly critical. Determining who decides what is not a one-size-fits-all proposition, but needs pragmatic, case-by-case assessment. Do we need the new AI project, do we want to hire this person as “software architect”, what is our future pricing strategy? Decisions are as diverse as our specialized working world. Therefore, the decision-making responsibilities must be designed in an equally flexible manner. The hard-wired rule that the boss always decides would be just as questionable as the opposite “work culture”, that everything is decided together and by consensus. Instead, the right groups and individuals must be identified and involved in each separate case. Good decisions require people who are competent and – this is also important – have the necessary time to think. Because under rigorous time pressure, it is impossible to reflect and balance enough, and thus only gut feeling may ultimately drive the decision. And that’s usually not a good path to take.
This is where Decision Hats come in to help. Decision Hats are six playing cards that help organize participation in decision-making. Each playing card describes a role that every decision-making process requires. The statements on the cards help to think through the tasks and to clarify responsibilities.
The six role-related Decision Hats are:
- OWNER: “I initiate the decision-making process because I need this decision.”
- FACILITATOR: “I organize and manage the preparation of the decision basis.”
- EXPERT: “My expertise and input need to be considered for this decision.”
- IMPLEMENTER: “I will execute the decision and turn it into practice.”
- USER: “I will work with the result of the decision, or I will be directly impacted by it.”
- DECISION-MAKER: “I will finally make the decision, and I will be accountable for it.”
Decision Hats is a thinking toolbox. The cards help you think. To think about: Which roles must be filled by people involved in a decision-making process? Which roles should I take on myself? Here are the basic rules:
- Each of the six hats must be employed.
- A person can have multiple hats and the same hat (role) can be given to multiple people,
- and everybody must know and accept their hat(s).
For leaders and entrepreneurs, Decision Hats is a particularly useful tool for self-reflection. As a leader you are often OWNER of decision-making processes because you feel the need for decisions. But do you have and want to decide everything for yourself and is your own expertise absolutely necessary in each case? Or is it better to pass on these hats – those of the DECISION-MAKER and the EXPERT – to other people in your team or organization? Remember: This is a case-by-case decision! It helps organize decision-making and balance capacities – your own and those of others.
Besides self-reflection, Decision Hats offers a variety of further uses, e.g., for agile teams, projects, and the review of existing work structures. This card game is extremely powerful because it is based on a lot of theory, and it is field-tested in thousands of cases. Explore the “Decision Hats – Field Guide” to learn more about it.
To sum it up: Organizing good decision-making is both crucial and challenging. Decision Hats is a lightweight, but very powerful tool in this regard. Use the six hats if you are faced with a novel decision in your company, or if you are dissatisfied with existing decision-making routines. The playing cards act like nudges that point you in the right direction. Your colleagues and employees will appreciate it, because applying Decision Hats makes decision-making effective and efficient, liberates resources and avoids (agile) burnout.
Digging Deeper:
Download the digital version of Decision Hats for free or buy a ready-made set of playing cards: https://overthefence.com.de/tools.
Habermann, F.; Schmidt, K.: Decision Hats – Field Guide. The Simple Path to Better Decision-Making, Berlin 2022 (online: https://overthefence.gumroad.com/l/dh-EN).
Kahneman, D.: Thinking, Fast and Slow, New York City 2011.
Pidd, M.: Tools for Thinking – Modelling in Management Science, Chichester 2011.
Thaler, R. H.; Sunstein, C. R.: Nudge – Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness, New Haven 2008.
About the Author
Frank Habermann is an economics professor, author of groundbreaking management books and keynote speaker. Together with Karen Schmidt, he founded the open innovation community “Over the Fence” to promote better management and leadership. You can contact him via LinkedIn.
