[RougeFemme]

I totally agree with having lively discussion within a framework defined by the leadership. But it seems that the mission and values are usually at a pretty high level - so high that they don't necessarily help in coming up with a single solution. It still seems that someone ??in a non-leadership role?? needs to be empowered to make the final decision - and to know when to make it. Maybe the framework you're thinking of, while influenced by the higher-level mission and values, has the "who" and "when" built in. And it certainly wouldn't have to be the same "who" all the time.

[dmyler]

"And it certainly wouldn't have to be the same "who" all the time."

Totally agree. And this is the hard part for leaders -- letting their people make big decisions, because the mistakes will be attributed to the team leader, and not their teams. As it should. But great leaders will make that situation a reality, otherwise you have a bunch of unmotivated people working for you who will eventually look for a job elsewhere that empowers them to grow into larger roles.

So leadership has to guide the process, and occasionally just decide. But hopefully only occasionally.

[seivan]

The problem with that process is that it ends up being half-assed.

"Yeah I value your opinion, all of your opinions, I'd like to hear your ideas... but we're not going to implement any of them. I like to feel good about being a good leader who listens to my minions. "

or

"Yeah I listened to one of your ten ideas, and it ended up sucking, lets ignore the facts that that idea had dependencies and contingencies on the other nine ideas in order to be amazing"

I rather prefer that the leader took a role that dictated the vision of the product and these days I prefer that particular leader to be the founder and/or CEO. Also hopefully someone who is part of the implementation (preferably code).