The Role of Good Decision-

Making in Effective
Organizations
Using RAPID
Good decision-making roles must align with other
components of the organization

• Leadership: Without a vision

translated into priorities, clear
decision roles won’t result in effective
decisions
2. Decision
roles and
1. Leader- structure • Structure: Decision-makers must
ship have an appropriate level of authority
within the structure

5. Culture • People: People without sufficient

experience will not make good
decisions; no amount of input from
others can overcome this

4. Work • Processes & systems: Clear

3. People
processes decision roles will not make a bad
and systems process effective, and a good process
will be hampered by unclear decision
roles

• Culture: Clear decision roles will not

overcome fundamental cultural issues
of trust and respect

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 Poor decision-making can have many roots
Likely root causes
Decision Work
Symptoms of an Leadership roles & People processes Culture
ineffective organization structure & systems

Lack of coordination: work

unfinished, teams isolated, out-of step

Excessive conflict: Needless friction

among internal groups

Unclear roles: Functions overlap

and/or fall through the cracks

Gap in skills or misused resources:

Missing or underutilized skills or
resources
Poor work flow: Disruptions,
cumbersome processes

Reduced responsiveness: Slow

reactions to environmental shifts

Conflicting communications:
external stakeholders confused,
complaining
Low staff morale: lack of confidence
or drive; poor teaming

Note: “People” causes of excessive conflict are typically related to poor performance measures or incentives, not lack of talent or skill per se.
Source: Strategic Organization Design: An Integrated Approach, Mercer Delta Consulting (2000); Interview with Peter Thies, Equinox
Organizational Consulting; Bridgespan analysis
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We recommend “RAPID ”, a tool developed by
(sm)

Bain & Company, that clarifies decision-making

roles Gather relevant facts
and apply judgment
to recommend a
Provide input to a Recommend decision or action
recommendation

Decide
Make the final
Input decision
– “commit the
Agree
organization to
action” Formally
approve a
Be accountable recommendation
for making a
decision happen Perform
once made
Note: RAPID was developed at
Bain & Company and is a
service mark of that firm

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“RAPID” is an acronym, not a sequence

An acronym…. … sequence of roles

R ecommend R

A gree
I A

P erform

I nput D

D ecide
P
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A simple matrix displays decisions and roles

Rows show which role Columns show

each position plays in decision-making power
each decision of each position

Position ED CFO HR Dev Dev Prog

Sample Decisions VP VP Mgr VP

Agree $1m contract D A I R A

Hire new program manager D I A R

Fire development assistant A D R

Allow program head to move
$10k among budgets
D I R

Etc…

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RAPID can show how a new process can be better
than the old one
EXAMPLE
R: Recommend
A: Agree
P: Perform
I: Input
D: Decide

G
E
C
B

F
A

al

al

al
al

al

al
al

du

du

du
idu

idu

idu
idu

ivi

ivi

ivi
div

div

div
div
Sample Decision

Ind
Ind

Ind
In

In

In
In
Which projects should Org A
initiate?
Before D D R R A I I
After
D R I I I I/P

Removed multiple
Ds, Rs Removed
unnecessary A, Clarified Perform
Removed
changed from a role and involved
unnecessary I
veto to input only early in process

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Good processes follow several rules

R - Assign the R to the person who does 80% of the work

to develop the recommendation

A - Assign A’s sparingly

–The R should engage the A before the recommendation is
finalized
–When this doesn’t happen it may lead to use of the A as a
veto of the D; this is a sign of a poorly executed process
involving a lot of wasted time and energy

P - Assign P’s to the person who will execute the decision

I - Keep the number of I’s low - I’s should have relevant

input or another compelling reason to be involved

D - Each decision can only have one D. If a D belongs to a

group, have a clear process for exercising it (e.g.,
majority vote; chair with final say)

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RAPID can be used to optimize decision-making
process to different goals, e.g.:

Thorough, effective Quick and efficient

decision-making decision-making

R R

A A
A I
I I

D D

P P
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RAPID can be descriptive or prescriptive

Descriptive Prescriptive
• Describing current practice • Laying out future decision
• Clarifying how decision- roles
making roles are actually • Defining how each decision
working, or not should get made
• Highlighting confused roles, • Defining the decision-making
such as multiple people role (power) each position
believing they have the ‘R’ has
• Illuminating where too many • Improving the quality of
or too few people are decisions by bringing in the
involved in each decision right input
• Helping the discussion of • Improving the efficiency of
decision-making move decision-making by cutting
forward productively the number of people
• Highlighting critical road involved
blocks in making decisions • Speeding up decision-making

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Clear decision roles yield five benefits

• More effective decisions by:

– Assigning a single decision-maker with both authority
and accountability for a decision
• More efficient decisions by:
– Removing unnecessary participants from the process
and pushing decisions down in the organization
• More responsive decisions by:
– Assigning clear responsibility to the decision
recommender to drive the process and the decision-
maker to make the decision
• Greater transparency into decision-making
– Staff members ‘know where they stand’ with respect
to each decision
• Reduced conflict by reducing role confusion
– Clear decision roles eliminates unnecessary tensions

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