LEADERSHIP
Operating the Team
Decision-Making and Conflict Management
Clear decision-making protocols and healthy conflict systems help leadership teams move fast without fracturing trust.
TIME COMMITMENT
Initial setup: 2–3 meetings
Revisit quarterly or post-mortem
Why This Matters
Accelerates action and removes indecision
Prevents resentment or passive resistance
Increases clarity on who owns what
Encourages open disagreement and psychological safety
Reduces founder micromanagement or overload
When to Focus On This
Tension or gridlock in leadership decisions
Leadership team expansion
Mismatches between authority and accountability
How to Complete
Choose a decision-making model (e.g. RAPID, RACI, DRI)
Map key decisions and assign roles
Train leaders to separate opinions from ownership
Set clear conflict escalation paths
Normalize healthy disagreement in retros and planning
Practice using protocols in real decisions
Review alignment after key decisions
Tools
RACI or RAPID decision-making templates
Conflict escalation flowchart
Facilitation guide for difficult conversations
Deliverables
Decision rights map
Conflict protocol doc
Team decision-making principles (1-pager)
How to Measure Success
Fewer delayed decisions
Higher confidence in ownership
Faster conflict resolution
Feedback that disagreement feels safe and useful
Who Owns This
CEO and COO or team ops lead
Get It Right
Align on a shared language for decisions
Revisit ownership when scopes shift
Keep egos out of ownership
Encourage “disagree and commit” culture
Model healthy conflict from the top
Don't Make These Mistakes
Assuming silence = agreement
Avoiding conflict instead of resolving it
Founder override without clarity
Too many cooks = no accountability
No system for revisiting bad decisions