The whole and its parts

The whole & its parts

Once a decision is made

When a strategic decision is made those involved are asked to stick to it. Their commitment is to do whatever they can to make it happen. It requires finding ways to implement the decision and whatever it entails. However, the decision results in different people in the team having different roles.

The team will be there to actively pursue the tasks that appear one after another and serve toward achieving the result hoped for.

The leader’s task is different. He is there to help the team implement the decision as it was decided. He will not be there to find solutions for the problems that appear and the team is working on.

However, he will be there to listen to the challenges the team shares with him or asks him to act upon. He will also be there to check in with the team to see if the progress made as well as the achieved results correspond to his expectations.

These are moments in which the decision-making is somehow revisited. Surprises, as they appear, might compromise the plan that had been aligned with the decision, they can make visible that there are problems that can’t be solved within the team and require his intervention, or they can, for example, highlight misunderstandings as well as the teams need to be encouraged.

These tasks are all located on the boundary of the team’s tasks. They emerge from the work they do but involve elements outside of their direct control. Sometimes the leader will have to push back and bring it back into the team’s territory. Sometimes he will have to take it up as the task finds itself in his territory.

What all have in common, is the decision they are all serving. That is, as long as the decision continues to serve the chosen objective.

 

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