Leadership requires making critical decisions, often under high pressure and limited time. In such situations, leaders strive to find the best ways to implement a conscious strategy. However, there are times when decisions require almost instantaneous action, and a leader must make the right call on the spot. This is where participative management comes into play.

Participative management is a leadership approach that involves employees in decision-making processes. In this approach, leaders take a step back and allow their team members to participate in the decision-making process, giving them a sense of ownership and empowerment. This approach is particularly useful when there is limited time or when the decision requires a high level of collaboration.

To successfully implement participative management, leaders need to pause and reflect before delving into the situation. They need to be aware of their team's strengths and limitations and consider the impact of their decisions on the team and the organization as a whole. The Participative Management Profile (PMP) provides leaders with the guidelines needed to execute confident decisions while also taking into account the perspectives and opinions of their team members.

The PMP provides 20 typical work situations where the leader is in charge of choosing the most successful outcome. The respondent indicates one of four modes of decision making for each situation. As a result, a profile is constructed that suggests the person's strengths and weaknesses in determining whether and how to involve others in decision making.

By the end of this assessment, participants will:

• Learn an effective way to solve everyday problems.
• Identify strengths and weaknesses during the decision making process.
• Create action plans for improvement.
• Build a foundation of personalized, data-driven problem-solving strategies.
• Utilize strengths and identify weaknesses to improve decision making.
• Develop actionable plans for success.

The Participative Management Profile reflects on the four significant considerations that the leader should take into account in deciding how to involve his/her peers in making a given decision.

These concepts are time, trust, importance, and acceptance, and we have added a fifth consideration, teamwork, to reflect the desire of the leader to use a particular decision-making opportunity to create a higher level of effectiveness. The five considerations are put together to create the PMP Model shown below.

• Time: Whether there is a need for an immediate choice
• Trust: The degree to which people affected by the decision have confidence in one another
• Teamwork: The desire of the manager to improve the functioning of the workgroup.
• Importance: The criticality of the decision to the organization
• Acceptance: Whether people are likely to have strong feelings about the decision or the process

Online Assessment

Order one per participant. The online assessment is administered to participants through the HRDQ Assessment Center and includes personalized reporting, full-color charts, interpretive information, worksheets, and action planning. A detailed report is delivered electronically to the facilitator/administrator when complete.

Paper Assessment 5-Pack

Order one pack for up to five participants. A comprehensive takeaway that includes critical content, worksheets, and forms used during the workshop, as well as additional tools for on-the-job use.

Facilitator Guide

Order one guide per trainer. This detailed, step-by-step guide for planning and delivering a powerful learning experience gives you everything needed to facilitate a full-day workshop. It includes background information, assessment instructions, scripts, discussion questions, activities, and samples of the assessment.

HRDQue Card 5-Pack

Order one pack for up to five participants. An excellent takeaway for participants, the HRDQue Card is a quick-reference tool that features the Participative Management Tree model and a description of each of the four methods of managing participation in decision making. A copy is provided with the Facilitator Guide, and we also offer additional copies for purchase.

QuickStart Train-the-Trainer

The QST is a convenient, one hour virtual coaching session for first-time facilitators of this product. You'll receive personalized, one-on-one coaching with a subject matter expert who will get you up to speed quickly and accurately so you can step into the onsite with confidence.

We'll answer all your questions about the facilitation of the product. And you can add additional coaching hours as needed. Your coaching session can be provided by telephone or video call and at a time of your choosing.

* Facilitators will also receive an HRDQ Certificate of Completion for completing the QuickStart session.

William L. Bearly, Ed.E., is vice president of Organizational Universe Systems. He is an information system and organizational development consultant and has even pioneered the fusion of OD with the introduction of management information systems.

John E. Jones, Ph.D. (1935-2003) was president of Organizational Universe Systems. He was a key contributor to training and organization development and a professor, trainer, presenter, counselor, and consultant. He received a BA from Wofford College and an MA and Ph.D. in 1965 from the University of Alabama.