Understanding Decisions

Decisions are strategic-level agreements your group makes. They're not individual commitments, but rather agreements that shape how your group activates your purpose and/or organizational strategy.

What Decisions Are

A Decision is a strategic agreement your group has committed to. It names what was agreed to, and as much as possible, who's responsible, and when or how it will happen. The key value: visibility into strategic agreement.

When you capture a Decision in JOD, everyone can see what was agreed to at a strategic level. This creates transparency and ensures the whole organization knows where strategy is being activated.

Examples of Decisions:

• "Launch pilot youth leadership cohort in Chicago and Atlanta by June. Director of Programs owns this work."
• "Shift 50% of newsletter content to feature youth voices, starting with April issue. Communications Coordinator leads implementation."
• "Expand community partnerships by adding 10 new partner organizations by September. Maria owns relationship development."

Where You Capture Decisions

Decisions can be captured in three places, depending on how they emerge:

Meeting Space

For realtime strategic agreements during meetings

When your group reaches a strategic agreement during discussion, capture it as a Decision in the Meeting Space. This works well for straightforward agreements that everyone understands.

Group Planner

For strategic agreements during planning work

Some strategic agreements emerge among group leads during their planning sessions rather than full group meetings. Capture these as Decisions in the Group Planner.

Group Voting

For complex decisions that need structured deliberation

When a decision is too complex for realtime agreement, use Group Voting. This lets you:

• Prepare detailed proposals in advance
• Give people time to understand and consider
• Gather honest feedback and concerns
• Revise proposals based on what you learn
• Vote multiple times until you reach agreement
• Convert approved proposals to Decisions

Group Voting is powerful when you need genuine agreement on complex strategic decisions. It slows things down intentionally—creating space for thorough understanding and collaborative shaping of the proposal.

Learn all about Group Voting →

When to Use Decisions

Use Decisions when:

• Your group makes a strategic-level agreement
• The agreement shapes how you're activating organizational strategy
• Leadership would care about this agreement
• You want organizational-wide visibility to what was decided

Example situations:

• Choosing which programs to launch or expand
• Deciding how to allocate significant resources
• Committing to a major shift in approach or focus
• Making agreements that impact multiple teams or the whole organization

What Makes Decisions Strategic

Not everything should be a Decision. Ask yourself:

• Does this connect to how we're activating organizational strategy?
• Would leadership care about this specific agreement, or just about the outcomes?
• Is this shaping the direction of our work?
• Does this need to be visible on organizational reports?

Decisions vs. Commitments

Commitment:
"Jordan will update the volunteer database this Friday"

• Not on strategic reports
• Internal group visibility
• Tracked within the group

Decision (Strategic):
"Launch pilot youth leadership cohort in Chicago and Atlanta by June"

• Strategic agreement
• Appears on strategic reports
• Organization-wide visibility

Some groups initially wonder whether something should be a Decision or Commitment. That's okay—you'll develop judgment over time. When in doubt, ask: "Does this need to be visible on organizational reports?"

What Every Decision Needs

Every Decision should have clarity about:

• What was agreed to (the strategic commitment)
• Who is responsible (specific person or people)
• When or how this will happen (timeline, milestones, or approach)

Effective Decision:
"Expand community partnerships by adding 10 new partner organizations by September. Maria owns relationship development."

• What: Add 10 partner organizations
• Who: Maria
• When: By September

Needs More Clarity:
"Focus on partnerships"

• What specifically? How many? Which communities?
• Who's responsible?
• When will this happen?

How Decisions Evolve

Here's something crucial to understand: Decisions are living. They are very likely to change.

JOD recognizes and accommodates this reality. When the external world changes or you learn something new, you can update your Decisions. The system captures change history and your notes about why things changed. This is intelligent adaptation.

Example of a Decision evolving:

Original (March): "Launch youth leadership cohort in Chicago, Atlanta, and Phoenix by June"

Updated (April): "Launch youth leadership cohort in Chicago and Atlanta by June. Phoenix launch delayed to September due to partner organization staffing changes"

Learn more about how Decisions evolve →

Managing Decision Status, Visibility, and Star

As a Decision progresses, JOD gives you three separate controls for it. They're independent of each other on purpose, so it helps to understand what each one actually does.

Status: Active or Closed

Every Decision has a status of Active or Closed, showing whether the agreement is currently in force. Status is visible everywhere a Decision appears—Decision Dashboard, Group Planner, and Meeting Space—so anyone can see where things stand at a glance. Only Group Leads of the owning group can change it.

Closing a Decision is the recommended way to retire one when the work is done. It just marks the agreement as concluded—it doesn't remove the Decision from view or affect anything else. Closed Decisions can be reopened back to Active at any time.

Visibility: Visible or Hidden

Visibility controls whether a Decision appears on the Decision Dashboard's default view for the whole organization. It's a separate, org-wide setting that lives only on the Decision Dashboard, and only Group Leads of the owning group can change it.

To hide a Decision:

1. Go to the Decision Dashboard
2. Open the Decision
3. Set it to Hidden

To bring a hidden Decision back:

1. On the Decision Dashboard, switch to the Hidden tab
2. Open the Decision
3. Set it to Visible

Changing Visibility doesn't log a change note or notify anyone—it's a setting on the report, not a change to the Decision itself.

Star: Keep Decisions at Hand in Your Group Planner

Within the Group Planner, Group Leads can Star a Decision to keep it easy to find for the group. Starred Decisions sort to the top of the list, on the Active tab.

Star is independent of Status, too—it stays put even if the Decision is later closed and reopened.

When to Use Each

• Change Status to Closed when the agreement has concluded and you want that reflected everywhere the Decision appears.
• Set Visibility to Hidden when you want a Decision off the Dashboard's default view for the whole organization—regardless of whether it's Active or Closed.
• Star a Decision when your group wants quick access to it in the Group Planner, independent of its status.

What Makes an Effective Decision

Think About Visibility on Strategic Reports

Ask: "Does this need to be visible on organizational reports?" If not, use a Commitment instead.

Be Specific with Ownership

Use names: "Wei" or "Jordan," not "the communications team" or "someone"

Include What, Who, and When/How

What was agreed to? Who's responsible? When or how will this happen?

Turn Vague Language into Clear Commitments

❌ "We should improve our outreach"
✅ "Expand community partnerships by adding 10 new partner organizations by September. Maria owns relationship development."

❌ "Focus on youth engagement"
✅ "Launch pilot youth leadership cohort in Chicago and Atlanta by June. Director of Programs leads implementation."

Expect Them to Evolve

Don't treat Decisions as locked in stone. When you learn something new, update them and note why things changed.

Watch for These Phrases

These phrases signal a Decision isn't clear yet:

• "The team will..." → Ask: "Which person specifically?"
• "We should..." → Ask: "Are we committing to this? Who's responsible?"
• "As soon as possible..." → Ask: "What's the realistic timeline?"
• "Someone needs to..." → Ask: "Who exactly?"

Take a few more minutes to get clarity. It's worth it.

How Decisions Work with Other Tools

Decisions often inform your Actions and require Commitments to support them:

Decision (Strategic Agreement):
"Launch pilot youth leadership cohort in Chicago and Atlanta by June"

Related Actions (Strategic Execution Plan):

• "Recruit 15 youth participants for Chicago cohort by May 1"
• "Develop youth leadership curriculum by April 15"
• "Secure $150K in funding for youth programming by June 30"

Supporting Commitments:

• "Jordan will draft recruitment materials by March 15"
• "Wei will schedule facility tours by March 20"

The Decision sets strategic direction. Actions show your execution plan. Commitments handle the work that supports it all, tracked within your group.

Practical Tips

During Meetings

• Listen for strategic agreements, not just conversation
• Before the meeting ends, read back Decisions clearly
• Test it: "So we're committing to launch in Chicago and Atlanta by June, with the Director of Programs leading this work, right?"

After Meetings

• Use the Email Results Now feature to share Decisions
• People respond better to clear lists than long notes

As Work Unfolds

• When Decisions need to change, update them and note why
• Check: Is this Decision still working in practice? If not, what did we learn?

The Bottom Line

Decisions create visibility to your strategic agreements. They show the organization where your group is interpreting and activating strategy.

Use them for strategic-level agreements that need organizational visibility. Map your execution with Actions.

Remember: Decisions are living agreements that evolve as you learn. JOD's progressive decision management system helps you track how your thinking develops over time. Updating Decisions based on new information isn't failure—it's your group getting smarter.

Learn about Commitments → | Learn about Actions → | Explore how Decisions evolve → | See the workflow →

Updated on: 18/08/2026