QUESTION: There is no point in giving any suggestions to managers as they always stick to their own decision.
FACT: Most of the time, managers might already have the answer, and only verify it against subordinates’ suggestions.
Employees become frustrated when their manager seeks their Opinion, but does not follow it. They think. that this is mere tokenism as the decision has already been made. They can also complain that the manager hardly ever sees any merit in diverse opinions and tries to impose his own; and that as he has the authority; people have to agree no matter what. In some cases, some team members go to the extreme of not giving any more suggestions since they do not see any point in doing so.
There are multiple ways in which a decision is made. Some
managers try to build a consensus; they seek solutions from the team members and pick the one about which they are convinced. Some other managers drive the discussion in such a way that it leads to the decision which they already had in mind; but the team members would be unaware that they are deliberately being led to that point. A decision can also be reached by talking to people individually and collecting inputs, categorizing them and then presenting them at a meeting with pros and cons so that the team can pick and decide.
It is true that, most of the time, while collecting the information, the manager has already made up his mind and will see to it that the discussions lead to that decision. A good manager is capable of correcting his decision if the team members do not agree with it. He encourages each team member to be part of the decision-making process. Decisions are not always arrived at in a single meeting; sometimes, the manager asks individuals or a small group to find out a few more answers, and then calls a meeting again to-decide upon the matter.
WHAT CAN YOU DO AS THE EMPLOYEE? Rather than remaining aloof from the discussions, you should be fully involved, as, whatever; the decision your manager will make has to be supported and implemented by you and your colleagues, And if you come up with a better idea, but the manager is not convinced about it, then you can prove the validity of your idea by prototyping or modeling. By providing confidence in the suggested solution and showing results, you’ll be ensuring that you and your teammates have influence in the decision-making process.
WHAT CAN YOU DO AS THE MANAGER? Your team members will lose all interest in participating in discussions if you ask for inputs and then regularly ignore them. You need to be aware of the consequences of your actions—perhaps you shouldn’t ask if you don’t want to give value to the answers. If you choose to ignore a particular input, explain why. This will have a better effect on the team as they will know that they are at least being listened to.
