As the name suggests, this stage is about picking the option that best helps to solve the issues you’ve identified in Joint Diagnosis. During Select the Best Option, you’ll be focusing on helping people to make a decision. You may find that people are reluctant to abandon some of the different options they have identified during Generate Options. They could try to backtrack to previous stages, asking for more information, because they are concerned about committing to a particular course of action. The thoroughness of the work you have done in Joint Diagnosis will pay dividends at this point.

The tools to support you in this stage are concentrated on decision-making and collaborative outcomes. As a change leader, you will need to display quite a high level of challenge, energy and persistence during this stage. You can draw on past work, reaffirming the need for change identified during Disengage and revisiting the outputs of any workshops at that stage. If there is a request for additional information, you need to encourage people to be very specific about exactly what they require to make a decision and agree a date for a decision.

It is essential to discuss all concerns and resolve disagreements before making a collective decision that everyone will support. If not, individuals may undermine the Plan and Implement stages. This can also happen if people are not appropriately involved in Select the Best Option. If they have not had the opportunity to discuss their view with others or to hear the reasons why others don’t think it’s viable, they may keep reverting to this and suggesting it should have been chosen during the rest of the change.