5 Best Decision-Making Tools for Small Businesses/Teams

My days as an active Army Officer are gone, but the learnings and experiences I acquired still benefit me to this day. It sometimes surprises me when I realize that being an entrepreneur is similar to being in the army — the decisions you make will impact the people around you. This is why I’ve always emphasized the value of excellent decision-making skills, especially in leadership, where one wrong move can spell disaster for an entire organization.

The best decision-making tools for small teams make it easier to make the best choices. Cloverpop, the OODA Loop, and a SWOT analysis, for instance, provide structure so you clearly understand possible outcomes and ramifications of proposed alternatives. The right tool impacts your business’ growth.

Let’s talk about some of the most reliable decision-making tools that a small team like yours would find most helpful, including Cloverpop, SWOT analysis, Cascade Strategy, OODA Loop, and the 3-Legged Stool Approach. I will also walk you through the biggest mistakes leaders make when utilizing such tools and how to avoid falling into these traps. We’ll also discuss the benefits you’ll enjoy with a handy decision tool up your sleeve.

Are Decision-Making Tools Advantageous for Small Teams?

Decision-making tools are advantageous for small teams since they help structure and streamline the process, making it easier and quicker to make better choices. Whether through decision trees, matrices, graphs, or charts, the right tool can help you lead your team toward success.

Biggest Mistakes Leaders Make With Decision-Making Tools

Decision-making tools have long been around to guide and support leaders who strive to make the best choices for their businesses. With technology growing by leaps and bounds, these handy business tools refuse to get left behind and are slowly evolving and adapting to the increasing challenges experienced by leaders today.

Here are some of the biggest mistakes to avoid:

1. Choosing the Wrong Decision-Making Tool

Decision-making tools have unique purposes, and each of them has its own strengths and limitations. If you choose the wrong type of tool for a specific issue, you might end up with irrelevant alternatives, ill-founded decisions, and costly mistakes.

The key to making the most of these decision-making tools is choosing the one best suited for a specific problem’s unique needs. Similar to playing golf, you don’t simply grab any club you can get your hands on. You must consider speed, distance, and angles to make the perfect shot.

2. Disregarding Artificial Intelligence

Some leaders doubt the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) with data analytics. They may take lightly the information gleaned from visualization tools, such as charts, diagrams, or graphs. This prevents them from making quicker conclusions and informed assessments.

In reality, AI can be depended on to efficiently process data, identify trends, and recognize warning signs faster than humans generally can. You’ll save time and effort in evaluating information and brainstorming with your team if you trust AI enough to partially do the job for you.

3. Fully Trusting Decision-Making Tools

That being said, you should never rely entirely on decision-making tools to do all the work. Your leadership skills — critical-thinking, risk understanding, and strategic planning — should be your best weapons in leading your business toward growth and success.

You can take part in decision-making and experiential training to train yourself to make better decisions. You can also solicit the help of an excellent decision coach to help you devise strategies to make the best choices for your business. Try to fully immerse yourself in your organization’s decision-making processes since, truth be told, experience is the best teacher.

Benefits of Using Decision-Making Tools

Let’s discuss some of the most compelling reasons why you should consider investing in decision-making tools for your small business:

They can help efficiently process data. Analyzing and interpreting data can be both challenging and tricky. It’s easy to miss pertinent details and overlook crucial points. Visualization and decision intelligence tools can help simplify the process for you.
They organize your ideas. Brainstorming sessions with your team can get messy with ideas thrown left and right. A decision-making tool can help organize the most essential points based on the prioritization of goals.
They help prevent biases and faulty reasoning from influencing your decisions. Decision-making tools effectively eradicate personal biases, predispositions, and self-serving motives by providing objectivity and fact-based reasoning.

Best Decision Intelligence Tools for Small Businesses/Teams

Here are some of the most reliable decision-making tools for small teams:

1. Cloverpop

Arguably one of the most user-friendly decision intelligence platforms available today, thanks to its drag-and-drop feature, Cloverpop banks on the reliability and efficiency of decision trees in guiding leaders toward making better business decisions.

Cloverpop clearly frames your alternatives, interconnects relevant data, and empowers you to make faster, more innovative decisions. They also capitalize on the power of artificial intelligence to bridge decisions with outcomes, track decisions, and assess results against the set goals.

Sancus Leadership can be your partner in optimizing decisions by helping you develop a more streamlined, structured decision-making process for your small business. If you’re interested in how Cloverpop can help you make better decisions, book a demo with us today so we can begin analyzing your decision-making process and formulate innovative strategies together!

2. OODA Loop

OODA is an acronym that stands for:

Observe
Orient
Decide
Act

This decision-making tool was developed by John Boyd, a US Air Force colonel and military strategist, to help soldiers make better decisions when they find themselves in the middle of conflicts. Today, it’s a practical tool for new businesses since they often find themselves amid abrupt, unforeseen changes.

Decision-making is pretty straightforward with the OODA Loop:

Observe: Begin by spending time closely observing the situation and every relevant factor linked to it.
Orient: Assess your options by aligning with the established goals.
Decide: Make your decision based on your evaluations.
Act: Follow through with purposeful strategies and tactics to ensure you realize your goals through the crucial decision you just made.

Remember to regularly repeat the entire process — hence the term “loop” — whenever you receive new information. This is a great way to reevaluate your decision, determine if it remains relevant, and make adjustments when necessary.

3. Three-Legged Stool Approach

Imagine a 3-legged stool as a decision you must make for your business. Its legs represent 3 essential elements that work synergistically to produce the desired outcomes. If one of these legs suddenly goes missing or becomes damaged, the stool’s stability will be compromised.

Adopting the 3-legged stool approach helps you identify factors that truly matter in a particular situation. Here are some questions you could ask yourself to determine what your decision’s 3 legs should be:

Leg1: What is my main goal in making this decision?
Leg 2: Is there a plan B I can count on in case things don’t go as planned?
Leg 3: Do I have all the information I need to realistically assess risks and opportunities?

4. Cascade Strategy

This decision-making tool utilizes strategy maps’ effectiveness when making crucial business decisions. It helps you better visualize your company objectives and alternative courses of action so you can make well-informed, rational decisions.

Here are some other key elements of the Cascade Strategy:

Frameworks are customizable, so they can better suit your unique needs.
Allows you to better align your actions with your goals.
Provides an easier way to track progress and review decisions made.
Allows for better collaboration and monitoring within the team.

5. SWOT Analysis

Perhaps the most basic yet reliable decision-making tool you can utilize, a SWOT analysis can be useful in practically every situation where smart choices must be made. It will help you identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) associated with a particular strategy or course of action.
Knowing these 4 factors can help you better allocate your resources, focus on areas for improvement, explore potential markets, and mitigate potential risks. A SWOT analysis will give you a bird’s eye view of the circumstances your organization is in.

The 4 Best Decision-Making Techniques (Small Business)

My 12 years in the military taught me that there is no specific formula for effective decision-making — you must tailor-fit your approach based on your current circumstances. I’ve also learned that structureless decision-making is way too risky — intuition and a willy-nilly approach are not always reliable in producing the best results. I never really imagined that the techniques I learned then would still be indispensable in my entrepreneurial journey today.

The best decision-making techniques can address your unique needs. Examples are cost-benefit analysis, multi-voting, 6 Thinking Hats, and PEST analysis. They have distinct features to efficiently tackle your concerns, structure your decision-making process, and help you make the best business moves.

Let’s start by discussing the common misconceptions leaders have about decision-making and how a structured decision-making framework can help you achieve your goals for your business advancement and success.

Then we’ll discuss 4 of the most reliable decision-making techniques and how these can come in handy for your various business concerns. You’ll find that learning about different techniques and structures can help you make better decisions.

Why Making the Best Decisions Is Crucial in Business

Perhaps the biggest mistake business leaders commit when making decisions is having no structure or technique when diving into the process. A decision-making structure provides a reliable guide and accurate direction. Without it, you can easily fall into these common pitfalls in decision-making:

Going with the flow. Doing what everyone else is doing or imitating what has already been successfully done may seem like a great way to circumvent tedious processes and significantly reduce decision-making time. However, it limits your opportunities, wastes your potential, and prevents the business from benefiting from more innovative, tailor-fitted solutions.
Falling for biases. Making decisions on your own without any structure or input from others makes you prone to giving in to your biases, personal convictions, and self-serving ideas. It’s more beneficial to consider situations from different perspectives and have a structured manner of gathering information so you can arrive at well-informed, relevant decisions.
Relying too much on intuition. You may have proven your gut to be quite reliable in getting you out of sticky situations in the past, but in the context of business, trusting your intuition is not the smartest way to go about making decisions for the organization. The best techniques and your strategic thinking and problem-solving skills as a leader are your best bets.

Benefits of Utilizing Decision-Making Techniques

Decision-making techniques are great allies for business leaders because they can help simplify, organize, and accelerate decision-making. Let’s take a closer look at some of the ways businesses can benefit from them:

Encourages brainstorming. Structured techniques encourage teams to collaborate and be more innovative in their approach to making decisions. Group decision-making is a great way to ensure you make well-informed and relevant decisions.
Helps eliminate biases. A sound decision-making framework can help remove biases, personal preferences, and self-serving motives from the equation.
Helps in better analyzing information. Weighing data and evaluating information can be taxing, especially when you find yourself overwhelmed with so much input. By having a structure or framework to work with, you’re better able to put things in perspective and focus more on the set parameters and goals.

The Best Decision-Making Techniques

There are many decision-making techniques to choose from, each with its own strengths and limitations. The important thing is that each time you need to make a decision, you go for the one that best suits your current needs.

We, at Sancus Leadership promote the value of effective decision-making because we believe it can spell the difference between success and failure. That’s why we encourage our partners to invest in this critical leadership skill to allow their businesses to benefit from calculated decisions and purposeful business moves.

When you’re ready to take your decision-making skills to the next level, book us a free leadership call, and we’ll help you get started on becoming a more efficient, resolute, and dependable leader.

Here are some of the most reliable decision-making techniques you can employ for your various business needs:

1. Cost-Benefit Analysis

A cost-benefit analysis is most reliable when you want to dive deeper into the financial ramifications of the alternative solutions available to you. From an economic perspective, you can analyze the different factors contributing to your decision so you can make well-informed choices.

A cost-benefit analysis involves these steps:

Identify the alternative solution to be analyzed.
Make a list of all the costs related to making this decision to solve the problem.
List all the potential benefits you can think of related to finding a solution for the problem.
Assign a corresponding numerical value to each cost and benefit based on how much they’ll impact your business.
Add up the figures for the costs and benefits.
Evaluate the results and compare them with those from your cost-benefit analysis of other alternative solutions to arrive at the best possible action.

2. Multivoting

Multivoting is a technique used in group decision-making where the entire team narrows down the available alternative solutions so they can make an informed, inclusive, and rational decision.

This is how to go about it:

Present the list of all alternative solutions available.
As a group, decide on how many alternatives should make up the final list of options.
As a group, decide again on how many choices each team member is allowed to vote for (5 is the ideal number, but this largely depends on how long your original list of alternatives is).
The voting begins when each team member lists their 5 votes on separate pieces of paper and ranks them according to priority (with the top choices earning 5 points and the last ones earning just 1 point).
The leader collects all pieces of paper with the votes and the rankings.
Tally the votes on a whiteboard for everyone to see (remember, transparency is crucial in group decision-making).

If a particular alternative solution emerged as the winner, then the team successfully employed the multi-voting decision-making technique. If no clear decision has been made, repeat steps 4-6 until you arrive at a final team decision.

3. Six Thinking Hats

This group decision-making technique involves looking at different perspectives — or wearing different “hats” — so the team can approach the problem from different angles. Individuals are assigned to “wear different colored hats,” representing what they should focus on throughout the decision-making process.

The 6 thinking hats are:

White Hat: This symbolizes facts, including data, statistics, graphs, dates, names, and other objective information related to the problem.
Black Hat: This hat stands for the drawbacks, negative consequences, and potential risks involved in the decisions.
Blue Hat: This hat represents the team’s goals and the overall direction the team must take. Those wearing this hat must always consider the bigger picture and ensure the process is adhered to.
Yellow Hat: This hat represents the opportunities, potential benefits, and positive consequences involved in the decision. Those wearing this hat are all about positivity and optimism.
Green Hat: Those wearing this hat are in charge of thinking about new ideas and fresh proposals for the specified problem. They must be all about innovation, creativity, and tailor-fitting their approach to the team’s defined needs and goals.
Red Hat: Wearers of this hat must listen to their emotions, intuition, and reactions toward the problems or issues raised. They must learn to trust their gut and vocalize what their instincts are telling them.

4. PEST Analysis

PEST is an acronym for:

Political
Economic
Social
Technological

It analyzes mostly the external factors affecting your business and helps improve your timing in decision-making. If you’re keen on analyzing current practices and predicting future trends, this is the most suitable decision-making technique.

Here are some tips on how to analyze the 4 essential factors in your PEST Analysis:

Political: Identify the various regulations, laws, and government policies affecting your business and the alternative solution being assessed. Note how some of these influence the way you do business.
Economic: Consider the current interest rates, inflation, labor costs, and other financial aspects related to managing and running your business and how these will come into play if you enforce this alternative solution.
Social: Factor in the consumer trends, customer behaviors, and target market profile linked to your business.
Technological: Assess the potential involvement of artificial intelligence, industry innovations, cybersecurity, and the impact of social networking on the alternative solutions being assessed.

By comparing the PEST analyses of various alternative solutions, you’ll get a clear picture of the best bet in your business’s current circumstances.

The Best Outdoor Leadership Programs for Adults (Review)

Having spent 12 years in the military, I never really thought that the learnings and experiences I acquired there would ever become useful to me again in my daily life. However, as I dove deeper into being a Logistics and HR Manager, and as I currently forge my way through entrepreneurship, I find that I keep leaning back on my training as an Army Officer. Indeed, outdoor leadership training has played a big role in shaping who I am today.

The best outdoor leadership programs for adults seamlessly combine adventure and environmental awareness with fostering leadership values, like responsibility, self-awareness, resilience, and adaptability. NOLS, Outward Bound, TASC, and Sancus Leadership, are among the best.

Let’s dive deeper into what outdoor leadership programs are really all about. I’ll briefly discuss what each of today’s leading experiential training organizations offer, and how each of them can work with you toward achieving your unique objectives and goals. You’ll find that outdoor programs are undoubtedly useful in shaping your future and helping you reach your full potential, whether in business or in your personal life.

What Is Outdoor Leadership?

Outdoor leadership is all about enhancing the technical skills involved in various activities, such as rock climbing, whitewater rafting, biking, and camping. You might think it’s all about enjoying and making the most out of life in the outdoors, but it’s really so much more than that.

Outdoor leadership is actually a form of experiential training where individuals learn and develop life skills through firsthand observations and experiences. These include:

Communication skills
Interpersonal skills
Empathy
Self-awareness
Creative thinking
Critical thinking
Problem-solving skills
Decision-making skills
Assertiveness
Resilience

By enriching these competencies in the wild, you’ll smoothly translate your learnings and experiences into your tasks in the workplace and in your daily life

Outdoor Leadership Programs for Adults

Here are some of the best outdoor leadership programs for adults and some basic information on each of them:

1. National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)

The National Outdoor Leadership School is known for its exhilarating wilderness expeditions where they immerse you in nature’s beauty and magnificence, as well as in its capriciousness and brashness. They are also one of the few outdoor leadership groups that offer classroom-based courses on wilderness medicine.

NOLS’ roster of expert educators will offer mentorship and training on various aspects that you can seamlessly translate from wilderness to boardroom. Their various outdoor programs will help enhance your skills in critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, and risk management.

What piqued my interest in NOLS is their Gap Year Programs. They have a refreshing take on making the most of what the outdoors has to offer in terms of enhancing life skills pivotal for both the wilderness and daily life. Participants get to travel to amazing destinations, too — a great way to improve self-awareness, cultural engagement, diversity, and responsibility.

When you emerge from a NOLS Outdoor Leadership course, you’ll feel more empowered in your leadership role in your business or community.

2. Outward Bound

Outward Bound promises to tap into your full potential as a leader and provide you with a solid leadership foundation that you can leverage in your daily life. They believe values and skills are better absorbed when experienced concretely rather than when taught hypothetically. They focus on enhancing an individual’s compassion and resilience.

Having been founded in 1962, Outward Bound boasts a long history of offering courses and programs for both men and women that will help enhance skills that will make a significant difference in how they live their daily lives. They promote inclusivity and diversity, and work on becoming financially accessible to all in an attempt to break down barriers and create transformational learning experiences for all.

3. Pacific University Oregon

Pacific University’s programs are designed to produce dynamic leaders adept in risk management and equipped with top-tier decision-making skills. Participants are engaged to try and solve complex challenges and problems within their teams in unpredictable, dynamic, and unfamiliar outdoor environments.

Individuals emerge from Pacific University with a deeper awareness and understanding of themselves — their unique strengths, weaknesses, characters, and aspirations. They’ve also developed a stronger respect for nature and are more cognizant of the value of caring for their surroundings. All these contribute to how an individual is better able to cope and skillfully rise up to the challenges encountered in various aspects of life.

4. Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards, and Certification (TASC)

TASC aims to develop leaders who are self-aware, able to function efficiently in a team, and capable of employing various leadership techniques in leading their teams toward success. They also promote respect for the natural environment and inspire others to participate in efforts to protect and preserve nature.

Their programs are designed to allow participants to learn different leadership concepts and styles through experiential training. In an outdoor environment where teams are thrust into situations that are unfamiliar to them, one’s interpersonal, critical-thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills will undoubtedly be put to the test.

TASC hopes that when participants emerge from their programs, they can communicate more effectively, devise innovative strategies, and arrive at sound, inclusive decisions that will help them become better equipped in dealing with their personal and professional challenges when they return to their normal lives.

5. The International Wilderness Leadership School (IWLS)

With over 20 years of experience in outdoor training, IWLS offers practical leadership-enhancing experiences to its participants while immersing them in some of the most scenic wilderness explorations around the globe. They also pride themselves on their rescue training courses, which foster adaptability, trust, and resilience in their participants.

6. Wilderness Leadership Institute (WLI)

The Wilderness Leadership Institute centers around their core values — education, leadership, environment, challenge, and community. These vital concepts are what they promote in their diverse activities and programs, all of which are conducted in some of the most remote yet alluring locations where participants can appreciate and enjoy nature to its fullest.

WLI places a premium on environmental stewardship by designing activities that have minimal impact on the natural environment. They also promote social responsibility and diversity, all of which can better equip tomorrow’s leaders in making our world a better, safer place.

7. Canadian Outdoor Leadership Training (COLT)

Canadian Outdoor Leadership Training offers various activities and programs designed to cater to participants’ varying objectives and goals. If you want to improve your outdoor skills because you’re interested in a career in the adventure industry or outdoor education, or perhaps you simply want to develop your personal competencies, their immersive experiences can help you achieve your target.

If you aim to reconnect with nature while fostering trust and camaraderie in your business team, their wilderness programs definitely won’t fall short of your expectations. COLT makes sure to keep its participants challenged, energized, and committed to achieving the goals they’ve set for themselves.

8. Outdoor Outreach

Outdoor Outreach takes advantage of every opportunity to develop leadership, volunteerism, and responsibility to their participants, particularly to the youth. Although they cater to different industries from all walks of life, Outdoor Outreach puts a premium on youth development and workforce enhancement, rounding it out with the inculcation of outdoor advocacy and environmental responsibility.

9. Sancus Leadership

Led by an avid outdoorsman who has taken on quite a number of challenging roles in his lifetime —including being an Army Officer, Explosive Ordnance Disposal team leader, HR Manager, instructor, sports coach, and entrepreneur — Sancus Leadership will take you to some of the most captivating wilderness locations in the world where you can learn more about yourself, particularly your limitations, strengths, and untapped potentials.

Sancus Leadership focuses on developing small-team leaders so they can respond more effectively to the obstacles and challenges thrown their way. You will appreciate the emphasis on building team trust, forging first-rate decision-making skills, enhancing critical-thinking competencies, and strengthening crisis management ability.

When you emerge from our deliberately designed outdoor programs, you’ll better understand the value of responsive, efficient leadership. You’ll be better equipped to handle the challenges you’ll encounter in the workplace and your personal life, especially in today’s fast-paced, ever-changing world where adaptiveness, resiliency, and proficiency are the keys to success.

When you’re ready to take your leadership skills up a notch, book us a free leadership call. We’ll set you on the right path toward being among the most effective, innovative, and authentic small-team business leaders today!

Pros and Cons of Small Group Decision-Making Explained

Many leaders think they have it rough when it comes to making decisions for their team. After all, with the responsibility resting solely on their shoulders, it follows that they will be exposed to intense stress and pressure, not to mention the solitary accountability regardless if the outcome is good or bad. You’re in for a big surprise when you discover that decision-making becomes more efficient, well-grounded, and even enjoyable when executed as a group.

The advantages of small group decision-making include diversified perspectives, removal of biases, and a higher sense of ownership for decisions made. It also helps boost employee morale and fosters collaboration and loyalty. The disadvantages include the risk of social loafing and groupthink.

Let’s delve deeper into what decision-making is really like in small groups, starting with its evident contrasts from individual decision-making. We will then talk about the pros and cons, including what this decision-making strategy can do for your team members’ morale and job satisfaction, as well as how it can help your business become stronger and more dynamic.

Is It Better To Make Decisions as a Group?

It’s better to make decisions as a group because the mixed ideas and insights you gather can all contribute to helping you make more well-rounded, relevant, and apt solutions. Individual decision-making tends to be biased, while group decision-making will take various perceptions into account.

Individual decision-making may be faster and could save you money and energy, especially since there wouldn’t be a need for any brainstorming sessions, arguments, and follow-ups. However, a lot of risks are involved since choices are made based on just one person’s perspective.

Decisions may come off as discriminatory and inequitable to some, while others may perceive your choices as self-serving and unsubstantiated. You will also run the risk of being blamed if things don’t go as planned.

Some leaders are hesitant about involving their team members in the decision-making process, especially since tradition dictates that leaders should have complete control of the group. However, as with anything, small group decision-making has its own advantages and disadvantages, and I must say, the benefits are quite difficult to ignore.

Here are some points worth taking a closer look at:

Advantages of Small Group Decision-Making

1. Diverse Perspectives

As the saying goes, “Two heads are better than one,” and this is most apparent and useful when making decisions as a team. Each person in the group has a unique perspective and can share distinctive insights, suggestions, and assessments on various issues.

Diversity exposes your team to a wider array of approaches to finding the best possible solutions to different problems. You and your team members can sit together and ponder over the problem, talk openly about your views, and share suggestions for possible solutions. Your decision-making process will benefit from the vast pool of knowledge and distinct experiences of your team members.

Each individual’s expertise will also come in handy in producing rational, comprehensive, and detailed alternatives. A friend told me about the time when she was still working in the car industry, and her boss would always ask her to come in during their company’s weekly planning sessions. She told me it made her feel uncomfortable because she was so young and the newest member of the team, and she felt like she hadn’t earned her right to be there yet.

By the third week, she was already feeling so awkward about the situation, so she asked her boss to invite someone else, specifically someone who has been on the team longer than her. That’s when her boss told her that the reason he’s been inviting her was because he wanted the perspective of a young, carefree person, one of the personality profiles they’re targeting in their marketing campaigns. It suddenly all made sense!

2. Boosts Employee Motivation

Your team members will feel heard, seen, and valued when you involve them in decision-making processes. You get the opportunity to leverage their unique strengths, enhance their skills, and give them a voice in many issues directly affecting them. When employees feel they’re respected and appreciated by their leaders, they become more eager to engage and contribute significantly to the attainment of set goals.

Happy employees translate to high job satisfaction and a low turnover rate for the company because people develop a sense of loyalty to the business. When more employees choose to stay, you avoid incurring additional expenses for new recruits, including recruitment, onboarding, training, and replacement costs, not to mention the separation costs you need to shell out for the employees who want to leave.

3. Removal of Biases

We all have our own biases, and these may inevitably come into play whenever we make decisions as an individual. In a group, each of our biases will be checked, and perhaps even eliminated, through healthy discussions and debate. This will give way to more well-rounded, inclusive, and reasonable solution alternatives from which the best possible option can be chosen.

4. Collective Responsibility

Accountability is spread out among team members in group decision-making, thus encouraging everyone to be more intentional with their words and actions. If you’re lucky enough to have a team of driven individuals, their energy and efficiency will rub off on each other, creating a team of dynamic team members, eager to find the best solutions for the business’ most pressing needs.

As a leader, strive to foster a culture of transparency within your team. Promote openness and honesty by encouraging everyone to freely exchange ideas and embrace criticisms and healthy debates. Transparency in decision-making is a great way to boost camaraderie and trust among team members, as well as a strong sense of ownership for the decisions they make as a team.

Disadvantages of Small Group Decision-Making

1. More Time Consuming

Group decision-making requires everyone’s participation. You would need to schedule meetings, consider each person’s availability, participate in discussions, and coordinate with everyone on the team. All these take time, and if you’re in the face of a crisis where quick decisions are necessary, group decision-making might not be the best route to take.

2. Groupthink

Some people might choose to stay quiet and not share their insights with the group primarily because the majority seems to already agree on something in particular. These individuals have a strong desire to conform and minimize conflicts, and are thus hesitant about showing dissent, raising issues, and criticizing aspects they may find some flaws in.

Groupthink typically produces flawed, irrational decisions and defeats the purpose of group decision-making.

3. Social Loafing

Some team members may have the tendency to hide behind the group and put in less effort than they should. Despite this, they eagerly share in the triumphs of the team even though they have not significant contributions. Riding on the coattails of their team members allows them to appear more efficient and reliable than they really are.

4. Lack of Accountability

Responsibility is diffused in group decision-making, and there may be a lack of proper accountability, especially when things don’t go as planned. I know we previously highlighted this aspect as an advantage for group decision-making, but depending on the profile of your team members, you always run the risk of accountability lapses.

Think about it this way — if each and every member of the team is accountable for all the decisions made by the group, then no one actually is. Some team members may deny responsibility and might resort to pointing fingers when it comes to bad decisions.

Key Takeaways

Small group decision-making may seem like a daunting prospect for many leaders, but given the benefits one can expect, it certainly is worth exploring. Quality decisions can only be made if there is proper appraisal, substantial dialogues, a healthy check on individual biases, teamwork, and facilitative leadership.

Sancus Leadership promotes group decision-making because it helps enrich the experience for everyone on the team. The benefits far outweigh the downsides. If you’re eager to find out how to initiate this strategic leadership approach in your business, book us a call today so we can help give your decision-making tactics a boost.

How to make your small team share issues before they become a disaster!

What Are the 4 Outdoor Leadership Styles?

Most people might think outdoor leadership is all about acquiring technical skills and utilizing these to make outdoor adventures safer and more enjoyable for everyone. In reality, it has to do a lot about your interpersonal skills, too, and how you can effectively lead diverse groups of people. I was in the same boat when I began my experiential leadership journey, but shifting my mindset definitely helped enhance my leadership.

Outdoor leadership styles include Authoritarian, Participative, Abdicratic, and Situational — and the Situational style takes the cake for being the most reliable. The 3 others have well-defined parameters and specific goals. Situational leadership offers the most flexibility and efficiency.

I will walk you through the basic concepts of each of these leadership styles, and we’ll dive deeper into which circumstances are best suited for each. You’ll find that I lean more toward Situational Leadership, and perhaps you’ll later agree with me that adopting the concepts in this particular approach is best suited for the unpredictability and fickleness of the outdoors. Let’s start!

What Are the Outdoor Leadership Styles?

There isn’t a particular style of leadership that’s ideal for outdoor environments. Remember, you’ll be dealing with people who have diverse personalities and varying needs and wants. As a leader, you must know how to read the situation and adjust your strategies to ensure that tasks are accomplished efficiently, set goals are achieved, and the entire team enjoys the experience.

At Sancus Leadership, we’re passionate about sharing the wonders of the outdoors with as many people as possible. When you want to enhance your leadership skills through experiential training, book us a free leadership call! We’re eager to share our experiences and expertise with you!

Here are the most prominent outdoor leadership styles utilized by some of the most outstanding experiential leaders:

1. Authoritarian Leadership Style

Authoritarian leaders are essentially tyrants in the leadership world. They rarely consider other people’s insights when making decisions, focusing solely on their own perspectives and opinions.

These are the types of leaders who would simply announce to the team their schedule for the day — what time they should wake up, how far they’ll go for the rest of the morning, what time they’ll stop for lunch, what types of meals they’ll eat for the day, and what time they’ll retire for the night. Authoritarian leaders barely leave room for suggestions and feedback from their team.

What’s good about this leadership style is that it gets things done faster, especially considering the absence of brainstorming and discussions within the team. If the leader is particularly adept with outdoor activities, the team enjoys higher chances of keeping to the predetermined schedule, accomplishing tasks on time, and experiencing all activities with efficiency.

The downside is that authoritarian leaders run the risk of losing their team’s trust, especially when things go wrong because of a decision they made on their own. Team members may also end up feeling demotivated and unwilling to enthusiastically participate because they might feel averse to the fact that their feelings and ideas are never even considered in the first place.

2. Participative Leadership Style

Also known as democratic leadership, these types of leaders are well-liked by their teams because they encourage high levels of participation and interaction. Yet, they are able to retain control of their teams because they make it a point to always have the last say, especially when it comes to making decisions.

Participative leaders always consult their group and consider their insights, suggestions, and perspectives. They talk about important issues concerning the group, such as waking, eating, and sleeping times, what gear to bring, where to pitch their tents, and how to tackle various challenges and obstacles that may be encountered along the way. They don’t just rely on their own judgment — they promote transparency, especially in decision-making.

This leadership style is beneficial in keeping team members engaged and motivated. It helps keep team morale up and fosters unity, respect, and trust within the team. The leader is seen as a respectable, reliable person to whom the team can entrust their safety and security.

Participative leaders must be mindful, though, that some unscrupulous individuals may take advantage of their openness and amiability. Since they typically arrive at a consensus when making team decisions, these individuals might attempt to steer the team toward unfavorable scenarios, later on forcing the leader to take the blame for the team’s failure.

I remember a story shared by a friend about one of her ex-bosses who was well-liked in their company for always being fair and considerate to his team. This boss, Mike, would always ask for his team’s input insisting that they’re the most reliable decision-makers since they’re essentially the company’s front-liners.

Everything has been running smoothly until the new guy, Tim, came along. Tim blended well into the team and was soon acknowledged as one of the primary sales drivers. The more he excelled at his job, the stronger the foothold he gained in his team. People began to turn to him for his opinions and insights on various issues.

Tim soon became his team’s “voice,” and most of his team members faded away in the background during decision-making discussions, believing that Tim had their best interests at heart. Unfortunately, their boss, Mike, thought the same way, more or less allowing Tim to make decisions for the entire team.

To cut a long story short, Tim’s true intentions were revealed when he practically brought Mike and the entire team down due to strategic decisions that allowed him to come out on top. Certain team tactics, mostly spearheaded by Tim, led to a big client threatening to cut all business ties with the company. As the team’s leader, Mike took responsibility for this huge guffaw — and he unsurprisingly earned the ire of the organization’s big bosses

However, Tim came out looking like a hero — and Mike the bad guy — because he strategized everything in such a way that he was able to salvage the situation at the last minute. He convinced the client to stay, made arrangements and compromises on behalf of the company, and was soon promoted to a leadership role, much to Mike’s dismay.

This particular scenario may be in the workplace setting, but it can very well translate into an outdoor environment where crucial decisions, teamwork, trust, and effective leadership are keys to a team’s success.

The lesson here is that leaders should always maintain control of their entire team. Trusting your team is essential, but too much trust can be detrimental. Leaders should remain the primary decision-maker and should always have the last say, especially on crucial business matters.

3. Abdicratic Leadership Style

Abdicratic leaders virtually hand over the controls to their team members, sharing their insights only when asked. They leave their teams to draft plans, work problems out on their own, and make decisions with very little guidance from them.

This hands-off approach trains team members to improve their critical thinking and decision-making skills. It also encourages team members to develop a stronger sense of ownership and accountability for their actions and decisions. It is particularly beneficial for individuals who exhibit strong leadership potential since they could further enhance their competencies with all the opportunities they will get.

Keep in mind that this style of leadership is extremely risky. Remember Mike’s story where he was practically manipulated and deceived by Tim? By not providing your team with sufficient structure and direction, they might eventually feel like they’re utterly leaderless. They might feel the need to turn to someone else for guidance, and you’ll soon find yourself being constantly disregarded and undermined.

4. Situational Leadership Style

The best leadership style is one that suits your current circumstances and the profile of your team. Each situation calls for a different leadership style, and this is the mantra situational leaders live by. They choose one approach, or a combination of 2 or more, to boost their chances of efficiently achieving the desired results.

Situational leaders believe that different styles of leadership can be effective in different situations. They base their choice of leadership style on these factors:

Team members’ personalities
Team members’ motivational elements
Activities involved
Risk assessment
Current circumstances (weather, terrain, emergency scenarios, etc.)

Here are some tips on how you can best define the most appropriate leadership style for your team:

Keep basic needs in mind at all times. Food, water, shelter, warmth, and safety should be your primary concerns. An excellent outdoor leader ensures that these basic needs are met at all times.
Get to know your team members better. Familiarize yourself with each of your team members’ personalities, fears, strengths, and weaknesses. You’ll undoubtedly be able to pinpoint resourcefulness, humor, efficiency, friendliness, aloofness, innate leadership, and even potential troublemakers.
Observe group dynamics. Note how your team members interact with each other. Group dynamics is an important factor to help you determine the best leadership style for your team.
Keep communication lines open. Be clear and concise when passing on information to your team, and keep an open mind when receiving their feedback and insights.
Check-in with your team. Regular check-ins with your team will allow you to closely and accurately monitor progress and pinpoint changes as they happen. Circumstances can change in the blink of an eye, and frequent team updates let you determine whether or not your current leadership style is still the best option for the team.

The 4 Roles of Amazing Outdoor Leaders! (Do You Have What It Takes?)

I’ve heard that some people think outdoor leadership is all about fun and games. Still, I think it takes more than just being high-spirited and a nature enthusiast to successfully lead a team of diverse individuals through challenging situations in the wild. I’ve spent 12 years in the military, and I never imagined that all the outdoor experiences and experiential learnings I acquired would still be useful to me today.

The roles of an outdoor leader include promoting a responsible culture where everyone respects nature and contributes to preserving it. You must secure your team by ensuring that basic needs are met, risks are mitigated, and hazards are tackled. It’s also up to you to push your team to new heights.

Let’s explore these basic roles entrusted to outdoor leaders and find out what it takes to excel in this duty. We will delve deeper into how you can ensure your team’s safety and security and how you can push your team to achieve their higher potential and emerge from the experience as more responsible, efficient, and engaged individuals.

The Important Roles of Outdoor Leaders

There’s certainly more to being an amazing outdoor leader than meets the eye. There really are no set rules and guidelines to abide by. The secret lies in knowing how to effectively adapt to each situation you’re faced with and responding in the most efficient and suitable ways possible.

Do you think you have what it takes to be an amazing outdoor leader? When you’re ready to explore opportunities in outdoor leadership, book us a free call right away. At Sancus Leadership, we can help sharpen your skills and expand your horizon so you can achieve your highest potential as a leader.

Here are some of the crucial roles of an outdoor leader:

1. Promote Responsible Outdoor Conduct

“Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time.”

This popular quote derived from one of the many wise sayings shared by Chief Seattle, a prominent leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes in the 1800s, perfectly sums up how we should all behave when we’re out in nature.

As a leader, especially if you come across beginners in outdoor culture, it is your role to ensure that you successfully inculcate the importance of respecting nature. Aspects such as camp cleanliness, preserving the natural beauty of the environment, and respecting all forms of life should be non-negotiables for your team.

Encourage a higher sense of environmental awareness by harping on the value of connecting responsibly with nature. After all, outdoor recreation has been linked to plenty of benefits that can help make the experience more enjoyable and fulfilling for everyone.

Here are some of those benefits:

Enhanced physical well-being. Activities like hiking, climbing, biking, swimming, and cycling have been linked to better heart health, improved muscle strength, better immunity, and enhanced stamina. They are also beneficial for people with or at risk for diabetes, obesity, heart failure, and other critical illnesses.
Improved mental health. Outdoor activities can significantly reduce anxiety and stress. Spending time immersed in nature results in a significant drop in cortisol (the stress hormone).
Enhanced Interpersonal skills. Spending time outdoors provides great opportunities to build lasting relationships with people you have a lot in common with. It also provides excellent opportunities for spending quality time with family, friends, colleagues, and other important people in your life.
Raised environmental awareness. Spending time in the wild provides you plenty of opportunities to have first-hand experiences with different environmental issues. You also get to better appreciate the wonders and simple beauty of nature.

2. Ensure the Team’s Safety

When leading a team through the wild, you must always keep in mind that nature is essentially fickle and unpredictable. Your circumstances could change in the blink of an eye and, as a leader, you must ensure that your team’s basic needs are always recognized and prioritized.

These are the basic elements you should always take into account:

Food
Water
Shelter
Warmth
Shelter
Basic hygiene

When your team feels that you, as their leader, are making sure that these fundamental needs are met, they’ll feel more secure and more eager to do their part in fostering efficient group dynamics. A happy team will undoubtedly make your leadership responsibilities and tasks much easier to accomplish.

On that note, keep in mind that your needs are important, too. You can do a better job at effectively managing your team if you are feeling just as secure, motivated, and happy as them. Self-care is crucial to ensuring that you’re equipped to fulfill your responsibilities as an outdoor leader.

Additionally, meeting your own needs can also serve as a gauge for your teams’ concerns. For instance, if you notice that your bare fingers are starting to feel clammy and stiff from the cold, chances are your team members are feeling the same way, if not worse.

3. Mitigate Dangers and Risks

When you’re leading a team in the wild, you’re bound to come across situations that may put everyone’s safety at risk. As a leader, it is your responsibility to ensure that your team stays safe at all times.

Develop a deeper understanding of nature and enhance your risk management abilities. More importantly, focus on ways to not expose your team to high-risk situations.

Here are some tips:

Preparation Phase

Be meticulous. Familiarize yourself with the terrain, get updates on expected weather conditions, and acquaint yourself with the whole area and its surroundings.
Work on being in top shape. Enjoin your team to get into good physical condition before any outdoor activity, and work on their stamina and muscle strength. If you’re expecting to reach high altitudes, research on proper acclimatization. Medical conditions should always be discussed with the group so everyone knows how to respond in case of a medical emergency.
Learn first aid. Urge your team to learn the basics of first aid. As the leader, learn how to respond to early signs of hypothermia, heat stroke, dehydration, and other critical conditions frequently encountered in the wild.
Pack light. Urge your team to pack light and bring only the basics. Heavy bags loaded with too many clothes and gear can be extremely cumbersome and may pose risks to the individual’s safety. Don’t forget your first aid kit and emergency supplies.
Identify hazards and risks. It would be great if you could make an ocular inspection of the general area of your outdoor activity. Hazards may include deep ravines or slippery slopes, while risks may involve a team member possibly tripping on exposed tree root systems or slipping on wet grass if it rains.
Pack a repair kit. Learn how to do basic repair work relevant to your activity, such as changing a bike tire, mending torn jackets, or repairing broken walking sticks.

On-Site

Enforce a buddy system. Instruct your team to always travel in groups or pairs, whether they’re simply going to check out a nearby interesting-looking tree or moving on to the next campsite. Nobody wants to be alone in an emergency situation.
Wear appropriate clothing. Dress for the weather, and not simply to impress. Reiterate the importance of proper footwear.
Check all equipment and gear. Make sure all your equipment and gear are in proper working condition before you set out. Do periodic checkups to ensure that everything stays in shape.
Be weather-savvy. Don’t rely heavily on weather forecasts. Watch out for signs of approaching storms, incoming snow, and other changing weather conditions. If you sense any threat, find shelter at once for your team.
Set a reasonable pace. It is good practice to let the slowest or weakest person in the team set the pace.
Come up with an emergency strategy. Brainstorm with your team on what to do in case of emergency situations, such as someone getting lost or getting injured. Whistles are reliable and inexpensive emergency tools that the whole team can rely on outdoors.

4. Push Team Members to Excel

As a leader, you’re expected to not only steer your team toward shared goals — it’s also your responsibility to help bring out the best in each of them. Whether they’re personal or team goals, you must take on an active role in ensuring these are achieved.

The first step is to recognize each of your team members’ fears and weaknesses so you can determine which areas you need to work on. Each person has their own incapacities and frailties, and it’s important to not let these stand in the way of having a wonderful outdoor experience.

Next, identify your team members’ strengths so you know exactly which skills can be utilized to the team’s advantage. Whether it’s something as seemingly trivial as being an excellent storyteller to boost the team’s morale or something as pivotal as being adept in tying knots, each strength should be well-utilized. Technical and interpersonal skills are equally important, and you mustn’t negate or dismiss any of your team members’ unique strengths.

Provide your team members opportunities to step outside their comfort zone. Challenge their limitations and develop their abilities so they can reach their full potential.

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