A project manager notices that a critical decision keeps getting delayed because team members defer to whoever spoke last in meetings, and no one takes ownership. To improve this, the project manager wants the team to agree on how decisions will be made going forward. What should the project manager do first?

Question

Accepted Answer

Facilitate the team in establishing decision-making rules within the team's ground rules. Ground rules define acceptable team behavior including how decisions are made, and having the team collaboratively establish them builds shared ownership and accountability. Making decisions personally or assigning permanent authority undermines team empowerment, and escalation is premature for an internal team dynamic the PM can facilitate.

More People challenges