Decision making at the right level with Hats, Haircuts and Tattoos

I recently led a leadership training session for a client. During the planning, the evergreen question of “how do we make decisions” came up; this post talks about the framework I introduced to help answer that question.

The challenge this group faced as leaders was determining when to make decisions and when to let go, and how to do so safely. I was already teaching them about David Marquet’s leadership ladder to empower their teams, but I wanted a way for people to know when to let go of a decision and use the ladder to coach their people through it and when to make decisions themselves.

I wanted to introduce a way to understand the level of decision by its reversibility, so I asked the Agile in the Ether community about frameworks that could help.

What resonated most with me is the post Adrian Howard shared from James Clear’s blog, “I think about decisions in three ways: hats, haircuts, and tattoos.” This also really resonated with the leaders I was working with.

Defining Hat, Haircut and Tattoo decisions

What I like about these definitions is that they provide a framework for considering a decision, while also allowing for the differences and nuances of the situation and the experience of the people making them.

Here’s how I defined them for the group I worked with.

Hats

Most decisions are like hats. Try one and if you don’t like it, put it back and try another. The cost of a mistake is low; the decision is made quickly and can be easily reversed. Teams should be able to make these on their own and share the results fairly quickly.

What should leaders do?

Be on hand if needed, but stay hands off and away from micro-management otherwise and catch up through your usual channels. For example, at the show and tells.

Use the leadership ladder to move the people making the decision to level 6 “I’ve done” or 7 “I’ve been doing”.

Haircuts

Some decisions are like haircuts. You can fix a bad one, but reversing it can take some effort, and you might need to live with it for a while.

What should leaders do?

Take some time to consider who is making the decision, and ensure the decisions are informed by evidence and expected impact. Be interested and available for support and input when needed.

Use the leadership ladder to move the people making the decision to level 5: “I intend to do”.

Tattoos

A few decisions are like tattoos. Once you make them, you have to live with them. Reversing them would be very expensive and painful, and not always possible.

What should leaders do?

Carefully consider ownership and maintain responsibility, as these decisions may stay with you. Move more slowly, involve the right people, gather information and consider the impact of decisions taken.

Ask: Could the decision be de-risked by making it smaller or less permanent?

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How does this resonate with you? Can you see a place to use it in your own work?