“Committees make the best decisions when three people are on the committee and two are out of town.”
– Bob Parsons, in May 2016 Golf Digest
“Decision by committee” means, usually, no decision at all.
If we’re in the business of selling something, that makes it a bit more complex, but the Difference Maker knows that “GroupThink” is another oxymoron. Groups tend to suck all the thinking out of the room. So, strategically, what can we do?
First, in this day and age, it is not ok not to know. Social media, and human being’s proclivity for posting most of their life thereupon, make it easy to know what Jim likes to do in his spare time or what Sandy believes in most. While deep connections (and depth, in general, but I digress…) are harder to come by in a world that loves to be 1″ deep and 1 mile wide, connecting, the verb, is simpler than ever before. So, if we’re faced with spurring a committee to action — action focused in the direction we want them to go — we ought to know as much about them as we can, going in to the conversation.
I’ve spent two-thirds of my career in the banking profession. Every bit of data on every financial institution in the United States is public record. “What’s the makeup of their board of directors?” can be answered in depth, without having ever been to the city the bank or credit union calls home. That’s been true forever. What’s different now is that we can know a little bit about almost every director, and a lot about some of them. And their officers. And their tellers. And their customers…
Second, while committees are incentivized toward inaction, teams get things done! How can we make the committee function more like a team? How can we get them to see a clear path and pull together along that path? If, for part of the process, the committee forgets that it’s a committee and begins to think like a team (yes, teamwork brings most of the thinking back in to the room…), progress is made, problems get solved and something happens.
If we’re asked to serve on a committee, we can say no. We can also take the lead on making it a team. If we’re selling to a committee, we can either accept the slog, or we can engage them differently, move them towards “Team,” and more than likely make a difference.
Leave a Reply