Ever felt like the only sane decision-maker in the room? You’re not alone, more than one of your colleagues is thinking the same thing! The problem isn’t you or others, but the complexity that comes with more people involved.

Think about choosing a restaurant in Paris. Solo? Easy. With a partner? Trickier. Add kids? It’s like negotiating world peace.

This applies to executive decisions too. A McKinsey survey found only 28% of executives believed their companies made good strategic decisions. 60% saw it as a toss-up, while 12% thought it was terrible.

Even great decisions, like the moon landing, aren’t perfect. It had deaths, cost overruns, and delays.

Paul C. Nutt defines success as a decision implemented and sustained for two years. Using his criteria he estimates over half of management decisions fail.

The key to success? Developing your team’s thinking together. Diversity and aligning goals are crucial, but the real challenge is aligning each individuals mental model of a world with competing priorities and limited resources.

Your job is to build a collaborative team of open-minded, creative people who understand their business and those of others in the team. Avoid siloed thinkers at all costs.

But there’s more. Create a team that’s not just collaborative, but synchronous by creating a shared mental model of the world for your team. Everyone needs to know who decides what, how, and when and their role in them so they support decisions with conviction.

As a C-Suite Leader, encourage your team to map out the team’s decision making process. You’ll likely have some “aha” moments. When everyone’s aligned, creativity and innovation flow.

As a Risk Leader, you can influence teams in your organisation to do the same which will improve decision flow across the organisation. The result, more productive teams and a more productive organisation.

Remember, you’re not at fault for a failed strategy. Teams complicate things. But with the right approach, you can turn these complexities into advantages.