When executive teams find themselves locked on an issue and the CEO is brought in to decide no one wins. Work with your team and take these steps to avoid stalemates.

1.       Consider an upcoming decision, and what possible stalemate the executive team is likely to reach, or has already reached with this topic before. Be prepared to discuss it.

 

2.       Take an informal survey of the existing options before the meeting, to root out options that no one is seriously considering anyway.

 

3.       When the executive team meets, lead the group through this new paradigm, explaining your intention to circumvent a stalemate (and therefore the use of the CEO as a tiebreaker) that would leave everyone unsatisfied with the outcome.

 

As a part of explaining this new paradigm, help the members explore the use of a non-binary solution and devise new options that preserve the best of the existing ones.