In this section, we've been talking about the solution space. And just like in the problem space, we might hit some specific challenges here. Let's look at some of the most common ones and get some ideas of how to overcome them. One of the problems we might hit is what we call analysis paralysis, the inability of the team to arrive at a conclusion. Some ways to overcome this challenge might be to timebox our meetings and decision making sessions. Just limit the time that the team has.
And this will push the group members to rise at conclusions. Another way might be to just ask them the Cartesian questions. If you see they're not arriving. final decision for a long time, even with the time boxing. Another common challenge is the groupthink. The situation in which the group easily accepts solutions proposed by the most dominant person in the group, or the formal or informal leader in the team.
There might be some shy people or introverts that might not be really in alignment with the proposed solution, but still, they won't speak up and the solution will be taken, which might have really tough consequences for the team and the organization. To prevent that, we can use different ways of brainstorming silent brainstorming, white paper in circle brainstorming and others. We can introduce also some other techniques like The token token, whoever has the token is allowed to speak the others have to listen. This might shut up the most dominant people and make them listen to the less vocal members of the team. Another case that you might have is resistance in the team. And the worst case scenario is when this resistance is hidden, you feel the team is not confident, but still nobody speaks up.
To identify such hidden resistance, you might use different tricks, like ask the team how confident they are in the taken decision and ask them to scale from one to 10 for example, where 10 is the most confident if anybody scales below that. You can go on with the conversation on what the resist Sounds might be based on. In some situations, people might still have some doubts. And you might need to go back into the process reevaluate the information that we have and the options that you have arrived at. In some situations, though, they might not feel really empowered to take this final decision. And you might need to involve the manager so that you can discuss together and arrive at the proper level of delegation for the decision that the team is supposed to take.
So let's summarize what we discussed in this section. The first thing about approaching the decision making process is to define your decision taking criteria. Do it early so that you can prevent some problems later on. Then you have to identify and evaluate all viable options. Do not stop with the first option you arrive it. Look for at least two or three alternatives so that you can have a really good solution.
Finally, use the criteria to make an objective decision together with the team. Last but not least, make sure you address problems that arise proactively. Don't leave them dormant. Just work with them and solve them as soon as they pop up. Good luck.