Every team must answer this question. What’s the official answer, and what really happens in practice? New members of the team will be feeling around to find out. Sometimes long-time members of the team aren’t sure either.

Here are the major options:

1. Whoever has the most expertise and/or authority will decide. The best decision is the smartest decision.

2. It’s a team decision, a democracy. The best decision is the one that has the most consensus behind it.

3. It’s moral authority, not the leader’s authority. The best decision is the right thing to do ethically, for the cause or for the customer.

A related question: Where’s the line between what our team is authorized to decide and what must be decided above us?

Team performance is highest when all members have the same expectation about how decisions will be made. As leaders it’s our responsibility to clearly communicate, and model, the answer.