Workshop Title

"Clarifying Decision-Making in Remote Teams"

Problem

It’s unclear who has the final say on decisions.

Objective

Help establish a clear, transparent decision-making process to reduce confusion, improve accountability, and enhance team efficiency.

Benefits

• Reduced delays and confusion in decision-making
• Clear accountability and ownership of decisions
• Improved transparency and communication across the team
• Greater efficiency through structured processes
• Stronger trust and collaboration in decision outcomes

Materials Needed

• 60 mins
• Virtual meeting platform (Zoom, Teams, etc.)
• Collaborative document (Google Docs, Miro, MURAL, etc.)
• Polling or chat function for quick engagement
• Breakout room feature for small-group discussions

Process

1. Introduction (10 minutes)

• Facilitator welcomes participants and introduces the topic:
  “Today, we’ll explore why decision-making is often unclear in virtual teams, how this affects collaboration, and what we can do to create more transparency.”
• Poll question: “How often do you feel unsure about who has the final say on team decisions? (1 = Rarely, 5 = Very often)” (Share anonymous results.)
• Discuss common reasons decision-making is unclear in virtual teams, such as:
  • Lack of a defined process for decision-making
  • Unclear roles and responsibilities
  • Decisions being made in private conversations without full team visibility

2. The Decision-Making Challenge (15 minutes)

Exercise: Where Does It Get Stuck?

• Breakout rooms (3-4 people per group).
• Each group discusses:
  • Have you ever been unsure who was responsible for a decision in your team? What happened?
  • What were the consequences of unclear decision-making (e.g., delays, frustration, duplicated efforts)?
  • What would have helped make the decision-making process clearer?
• Groups return and share insights on how unclear decision-making affects team efficiency.

3. Key Strategies for Clearer Decision-Making (15 minutes)

• Facilitator introduces three key strategies for improving decision-making clarity:
  1. Define decision-making roles – Use a clear framework like RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed).
  2. Establish a decision-making process – Ensure consistency in how decisions are made, documented, and communicated.
  3. Improve decision visibility – Use shared platforms to track decisions and their rationale.
• Chat question: “What’s one challenge your team faces when making decisions?”
• Participants share ideas, and facilitator highlights key themes like lack of role clarity, conflicting priorities, and communication gaps.

4. Practical Application: Structuring a Clear Decision Process (15 minutes)

Exercise: Fix the Decision Confusion

• Participants write down a recent situation where decision-making was unclear.
• They swap examples (or facilitator selects a few).
• Each person redesigns the decision-making process using one of the key strategies.
• Example transformations:
  • ❌ A project stalled because no one knew who had final approval.
  • ✅ A RACI matrix was created to clarify who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for each key decision.
• Share responses and discuss how clear structures prevent delays and confusion.

5. Action Plan and Close (5 minutes)

• Each participant commits to one action they’ll take to improve decision-making clarity in their team.
• Facilitator summarises key takeaways.
• Final poll: “How confident do you feel about improving decision-making in your virtual team?”