Board Leaders: How To Ease Decision-Making Gridlock

You may not have 100 percent support from the board, but getting that backing might take way too much time to earn. What do you do?

One way to break through the gridlock, and more, in today’s Lunchtime Links:

Majority rules: It’s almost impossible to get unanimous consensus while making a decision, no matter the size of the group or the issue. Les McKeown  (opens in a new tab), president and CEO of Predictable Success,  (opens in a new tab) an advisory company specializing in accelerated business growth, suggests you drop the need for “100 percent agreements.”  (opens in a new tab) Instead, use a majority vote system, which will allow room for time-constrained debate. “If you’re stuck in consensus gridlock, try redefining ‘consensus’ as cabinet responsibility for majority-rule decisions. It’ll transform your business,” he writes for Inc.com.

Cutting through the distance: Anat Binur, cofounder of  Middle East Education through Technology (MEET), says nothing beats face-to-face interactions  (opens in a new tab) while working together. As the California-based leader of a global organization with staff spread across the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. East Coast, she relies on technology for collaboration and getting things done, but she still encourages finding a way to meet in person. “Even if you have all these technology tools, it’s very key to create interpersonal relationships,” she tells Fast Company reporter Miles Kohrman. “Once in a while you have to have either physical meetings, or spend time to really build those relationships for everything else to really work effectively in such a global organization.” What’s your association’s approach to distance working?

Tumblr gets analytics: Having trouble selling the ROI of a reblog? Thanks to Union Metrics, that problem could soon be in the past. According to TechCrunch, the Tumblr-sanctioned analytics provider has launched a version for small businesses  (opens in a new tab), individuals, and professional bloggers. The platform’s free and paid iterations provide data for likes, followers, reblogs, and performance of specific posts. (If you’re willing to shell out $199 or more per month, you can even track keywords popular throughout the platform.) The data, which the platform displays in a tree-style format like the one shown above, is downloadable and can even be integrated with Google Analytics.  The downside for budget users? The free subscription is limited, only allowing users to track one Tumblr account, while the rest allow at least three. If you’d prefer something a little more basic, Tumblr just launched an analytics option  (opens in a new tab) of its own.

What are your favorite analytics-tracking tools? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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