Side Effects and Trade-offs

There is no getting away from the fact that implementing RAPID can be messy. In the short term, it will test the resilience of the management team, particularly if it exposes an existing process that is convoluted or sorely imbalanced, or reveals a complete lack of process. And some of its potential side effects and trade-offs can make people uncomfortable. For example:

  • Implementing RAPID can mean trading a highly participatory decision-making culture for a faster and more efficient one. Whether the trade-off is appropriate depends on the nature of the decision. The fact is that most decisions in most organizations are best made quickly and efficiently, using one "D" and very few "As". For example, a case manager has to be able to make the right decisions for her clients quickly. And an executive director may need to be able to select and hire key staff members at his or her discretion. Sometimes, though, a decision is better made by consensus (where everyone has an "A"), or even by voting (such as requiring 51 percent of the board for a "D"). Taking that approach ensures that everyone's point of view is considered, which can make for great buy-in. But it also makes the decision arrive later and necessarily involves more investment of each individual's time.
  • Using RAPID entails mapping how decisions are, and will be, made. In doing so, it essentially exposes the way in which power flows through the organization. As a result, RAPID can reveal when what has been touted as a highly participatory decision-making culture is in fact more show than substance.
  • Making power explicit in this way can cause discomfort, particularly in organizations long accustomed to functioning with their original founder and a familial set of relationships. RAPID makes relationships more "professional," and for some organizations, this is a difficult step to take.
  • Using RAPID means trading ambiguity for transparency. Some organizations' leaders prefer to leave control of certain issues a little bit ambiguous. For example, what constitutes a strategic change that needs to go to the board, versus a tactical decision that is within the purview of the executive director? In reality, of course, each decision requires some sort of judgment call. Someone must choose whether or not to move a decision into the RAPID process – even if he or she is not officially an "R"! But once RAPID is introduced, ambiguity is no longer an option.