Decision making: the Advice Process

Here is an expert from Reinventing Organization (Laloux) that explains beautifully how the advice process works:

“In principle, any person in the organization can make any decision. But before doing so, that person must seek advice from all affected parties and people with expertise on the matter. The person is under no obligation to integrate every piece of advice; the point is not to achieve a watered down compromise to accomodate everyone’s wishes. But advice must be sought and taken into serious consideration. The bigger the decision, the wider the net must be cast (...). Usually, the decision maker is the person who notice the issue or opportunity or the person most affected by it. (...) The process is key to making self management function. It is actually so critical that, at AES and other self managing organizations, colleagues know that forgetting to uphold the advice process is one of the few things that can get them fired. (...) The many benefits of the advice process: in his experience, it creates community, humility, learning, better decisions, and fun. (...) with the advice process, the ownership of the decision stays clearly with one person: the decision maker. Convinced she has made the best possible decision, she sees things through with great enthusiasm, trying to prove to advice givers that their trust was well placed or their objections immaterial. While consensus drains energy out of an organization, the advice process boosts motivation and initiative.” p100-103, Reinventing organisations.

From this we can derive some key principles for decision making using the advice process:

• Anyone can decide anything in principle
• It's compulsory to seek advice from affected parties AND people with expertise on the matter
• The bigger the decision, the wider the net of advice must be cast

Add example of how the advice process works