End debates decisively - people are relieved when leaders accept responsibility for calls
When there are good arguments and emotions on both sides, teams intuitively want to reach consensus. But people are enormously relieved when a leader grabs the baton and accepts responsibility for a decision. Using this prerogative sparingly builds rather than erodes trust.
When to use
When debates have reached an impasse with valid points on both sides
Don't do this
Waiting for perfect consensus, which holds the team hostage and delays progress
2 Founders Who Did This
As CEO, Girouard would use the 'CEO prerogative' to make final calls, logically explaining his choice and sticking with it
Weiss observes that consensus-driven decisions produce vanilla outcomes because no one wants to be blamed for bad decisions. He advocates that leaders should grab the baton and accept responsibility for decisions after hearing arguments from both sides