AUA Manchester 2012Session no 402

Decisions, Decisions: How to Make Effective Group Decisions.

James CraigFaculty Accountant

The University of Leeds

Terminology

Group? Board/ CommitteePrivate SectorChairman/ Madam ChairmanChairNED (Non-Executive Director) – or equivalent in your area

Basic Prerequisites (1)

Written rules: procedures/ membership details/ standing orders/ terms of reference/ Include NED involvement etc

Basic Prerequisites (2)

• Clear, simple committee structures• Clarity concerning decisions; eg Delegated decision

Recommendation (to whom?)Majority required?

Basic Prerequisites (3)

• A risk register – updated at the end of every meeting:– Identify the risks– Evaluate the likelihood of the risk happening – Who’s the risk owner?– What remedial action should be taken?– Timescale?

Basic Prerequisites (4)

• Equality and Diversity Policy• How work towards adequate gender mix

particularly, but also take into account all equality and diversity issues?

More on the gender Imbalance

• More women badly needed, particularly at Board level

• Perpetuation of male dominance: ex-officio membership/ senior positions.

• How encourage women to be nominated for election? Cultural issues (HE as a whole)

Basic prerequisites (5) – more radical?

• Reports up to two sides of A4 with one clear recommendation at the end, every time.

• Appendices as necessary (out of main body of report). • No reports from other cttees or minutes attached (taken as

read; waste of paper: refer to on intranet/ ‘restricted’ drive etc).

• Minutes: always succinct; past tense; self- contained

Roles – clearly define:ChairmanLeaderSecretaryMembersNEDs

The ChairmanDeep inside knowledgeDirects the meetingKeeps to the point; keeps time throughoutFirm and fair with outspoken peopleEncourages contributions from quieter membersSummarises the main pointsMakes the decision clear with direct reference to the

written recommendation at the foot of p2 of the report (see above)

The Leader

• Why should the ‘leader’ necessarily be the Chairman?

• Leadership qualities (concurrent with academic success?)

• Integrity; conviction; humour; builds trust and respect; fantastic listener; transparency; weighs up all sides of an argument and makes a clear decision.

The Secretary

• Secretary a crucial role• Knows the business (better perhaps than the

Chairman)• Prompts/ guides/ information at fingertips• NEDs: introductory days etc. Guided tour

A ‘Strong Culture’David Smith: ‘Asda Magic’Seven principles of a high-performing culture

Principle 2: Communicate/ communicate/ communicatePrinciple 3: Listening

‘Permafrost layer’

Strategy and Mission Statement

Do you know your Institution’s strategy, vision and and mission statement?

To what extent do you feel these currently underpin your decision-making?

What share do you, as an administrator, have in academic decision-making?

Keeping it fresh

Stability and cultureCritical massEvolutionary membershipNEDs at and below Board level (penetrate the permafrost layer)15th Sept 2008

‘Getting to know’ Events (1)

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) ExerciseHire a practitioner for a day!

• Attitudes: Extroversion/ Introversion (E-I)• Perceiving: Sensing/ Intuition (S-N)• Decision-Making: Thinking/ Feeling (T-F)• Lifestyle: Judging/ Perception (J-P)

‘Getting to Know’ Events (2)

Two-day annual strategy meeting, with dinner, drinks, NEDs and overnight stay away from work.

Board Day (physical boards!) Three x 3m boards along a wall with green and red marker pens: quarterly planning meetings.

No chairs: standing only (Asda) – meetings over within half an hour.

Leadership vs Consensus

Leadership qualities again‘The enemy within’Gather views (Asda)Beware of consensus (‘Groupthink’)Divisions/ vigorous debate can be helpfulThe Abilene Paradox (JB Harvey, 1974)Compromise

Practical Measures

What practical measures could you bring to bear within your circle of influence, to improve decision-making?

Delegates’ Contributions (1)• Perception of the contribution of academic-related staff at meetings, vis-à-vis

academic staff

• The sector varies considerably (one delegate had worked at three universities which were all very different)

• Academic-related staff much valued in terms of their contribution at one Institution represented: more so, it was felt, than the academic staff!

• Academic staff tend to value the support of administrative staff in helping students in particular.

Delegates’ Contributions (2)• Role of the secretary

• Being one step ahead of the game by knowing what might be going through people’s minds: ‘I know what you might be thinking, but…..’. So have a suitable reaction ready; know the appropriate thing to say at the appropriate time.

• Have pre-meetings to resolve difficult issues, before running into the danger of wasting valuable time at the main meetings. Discuss what is contentious beforehand; bring the parties together.

• Bring separate groups with established views, ‘on side’

Delegates’ Contributions (3)• On leadership

• Strong leaders engender the trust of those the teams they lead. This trust can take time to nurture, and to some it doesn’t come at all.

• The least effective leaders are those who make decisions and give commands, without listening to and getting to know their team members.

• One delegate commented on a very positive experience she had in Victoria, Australia, where a particular charismatic leader spent a considerable amount of time getting to know his staff at all levels: talking to them regularly in their places of work and getting to know the business inside out. Such leaders tend to make the best decisions.

Delegates’ Contributions (4)• On Chair/ Chairman

• Which is most appropriate term to use: ‘chair’; or ‘chairman/ madam chairman’? The term ‘chairman’ tends to be used widely in the private sector - as in Company Chairman - but the term ‘chair’ was felt by some to be more suitable. Whichever is used will depend to a large extent on local custom, but ‘chair’ has certainly become much more popular over the years.

References

• David Smith – Asda Magic: The Seven Principles of Building a High-Performance Culture. Grosvenor House 2011. ISBN978-1-908596-55-0

• Allan Leighton – Tough Calls: Making the Right Decisions in Challenging Times. Random House 2011. ISBN 978-1-847940-52-0

• Myers-Briggs – Wikipedia a useful starting point