“Guys, guys, we need to deal these outstanding issues from the People EXCO Meeting - the Talent Management Framework; the Succession Grid and the Remuneration Committee slides. I trust that you guys will ensure that these outstanding issues are dealt. I am counting on you…” - and those were the final words from Inya Agama, that ended another extremely long and winding meeting of the Unit Heads in the HR Department at Axiom Pensions - one of Nigeria’s leading and largest Pension Fund Administrators (PFA).

“Hmmmn, as usual, we have spent the whole day here and we have just gone back and forth without actually achieving much” muttered Austin to his colleagues as they packed their folders and tablets to return back to their desks. The unfortunate thing about meetings of the HR Department was that while there was always a lot of clarity about what was outstanding to be done, very little actually happened thereafter. There would always be arguments and inputs from the entire team, but it was always hard to focus on the inputs from everyone to actually take concrete decisions. Inya, the HR Director liked to get everyone talking and contributing to the conversations, but most meetings ended with very few decisions actually being taken or responsibilities assigned to anyone.

Most of the meetings were characterized with lots of arguments, unnecessary ideas, digressions and outstanding items from previous meetings still being debated with very little time to discuss current and more strategic challenges or take the critical decisions required to move the department and PFA forward.

Austin couldn’t take it any longer. He had for many months since joining Axiom Pensions from the world of consulting felt that decision making in the HR Department and pretty much around the organization was ineffective. As a consultant they had used the RAPID Decision-Making Framework to improve the quality and output of decisions of their clients by assigning roles to people for various parts of the decision-making process. He decided to speak to Inya and offer to work with her to use the RAPID Framework and other tools for creative decision-making.

Inya listened quite well to Austin and was open to the comments and suggestions he made about decision making using the RAPID Model. “Thanks very much for this Austin - that’s why we hired sharp minds like you! Be assured - our next meeting will certainly be better.

A week later, the HR Leadership Team huddled to discuss the draft Succession Planning and Talent Management Program. Inya glanced quickly at her notes from her one-on-one session with Austin and looked across to where Austin was seating as Austin nodded in approval. The meeting took a completely different turn - first she explained the challenges that she had observed regarding decision making at their meetings and thanked Austin giving him credit for the new approach that she was going to take at the meeting.

After explaining the Six Thinking Hats Model and the RAPID Framework, she guided the conversations using the Six Thinking Hats - ensuring that the various perspectives to the issue were considered - she came with actual coloured hats representing De Bono’s six perspectives. The energy around the room was amazing as she transitioned from one perspective to another - everyone was contributing, but this time in a disciplined manner that made it easy to track the contributions. She then assigned members of the HR Leadership Team to various aspects of the decision-making process to finalize the draft after incorporating the inputs from the Six-Thinking Hats session using the RAPID Model. Some people were assigned to perform certain sub-tasks; others to provide input on certain aspects of the new Program and those who will recommend and agree on some of the changes and finally, her role to decide on the final submission to the CEO. Timelines were also set for each person’s role and delivery.

Inya really believed in people working in teams to make and implement decisions and carrying everyone along in the decision-making process, but without the tools for disciplined decision-making like the Six Thinking Hats and the RAPID Framework her best efforts at group decision making had always been quite ineffective.

Learning Impact NG is a full-service organizational development, organizational learning and strategy consulting firm that offers a unique range of solutions to meet the needs of organizations and individuals. Click HERE to learn more about our program on Decision Making