DECISION MAKING PROCESS - an effective process of first diverging to explore the possibilities and then converging on a solution

The Classic Approach to Decision Making

Define the objective
Collect relevant information
Generate feasible options
Make the decision
Implement and evaluate

12 Effective Leadership Roles

Permit group decision; help your team reach better decisions... More

Four Psychological Types of Decision-Makers

Intuitives – led by intuition; concentrate on the possibilities; avoid the details and tend to look at the bigger picture.

Thinkers – are analytical, precise, and logical; process a lot of information, often ignoring the emotional or feeling aspects.

Feelers – are interested in the feelings of others; dislike intellectual analysis and follow their own likes and dislikes; enjoy working with people and are capable of great loyalty.

Sensors – see things as they are ; have great respect for facts; have an enormous capacity for detail and seldom make errors; are good at putting things in context.

Confirm Your Values before Making Decisions

Choose to be principle-based! How often do you allow fleeting circumstances to influence your choices?
Choose to be deliberate! What mission are you pursuing right now?
Choose to be dedicated! How does your mission benefit from your current task?

Decision Making Tips

Where possible, build into your plans time 'to sleep on it', so as to give your inner brain an opportunity to contribute.
Use the “master method” of decision making: ask yourself, “What is the worst possible thing that can go wrong in this situation?” and decide whether or not you can live with those consequences.

Suggestions for Building Leadership Integrity

Tough decisions will always be a challenge to Integrity. At such times it takes courage to do the right things. Leadership with integrity acknowledges accountability and responsibility. Step up to the task, don’t waste time over analyzing. If you embrace integrity you will know what to do... More

Decision as the Key to Transformation

In his classic work, "Think & Grow Rich", Napoleon Hill stated that 98% of people are in the jobs they have through indecision, i.e. because they never made the decision about what they wanted to do in their lives in the first place. Indecision explains why many people feel that they have a life purpose, but have no idea what it is.

Decision is the key to transformation. It is one of the key character traits distinguishing high performers from the vast ranks of the mediocre. Decision is, by definition, behind every truly great achievement anyone ever makes. Interestingly, the most successful people make decisions quickly and change them slowly. They persist with the decisions they have made. However, failures are very slow to make any decision at all (most never make any), and they change the ones they have made very rapidly indeed. Which description applies to you?²

Decision-Making Defined

Decision making is a process of first diverging to explore the possibilities and then converging on a solution(s).

The Latin root of the word decision means "to cut off from all alternatives". This is what you should do when you decide.

Analyzing Proposals: Six Thinking Hats

The Six Thinking Hats proposal analysis tool invented by Edward de Bono⁴ is particularly useful for evaluating innovative and provocative ideas. While most of our thinking is adversarial, the six thinking hats technique overcomes these difficulties by forcing everyone to think in parallel. As participants wear each hat – white, red, yellow, black, green, or blue – they all must think a certain way at the same time... More

Best Practices Google: 10 Golden Rules

Strive to reach consensus. Modern corporate mythology has the unique decision maker as hero. We adhere to the view that the "many are smarter than the few," and solicit a broad base of views before reaching any decision. At Google, the role of the manager is that of an aggregator of viewpoints, not the dictator of decisions. Building a consensus sometimes takes longer, but always produces a more committed team and better decisions... More

Make Quick Decisions through Establishing Guiding Principles

Fast companies that have demonstrated the ability to sustain surge and velocity all have established sets of guiding principles to help them make quick decisions. Abandoning theoretical and politically correct 'values' and bureaucratic procedures in favor of a practical, down-to-earth list of guiding principles will help your company make the decision-making process much faster. Only one question will need to be asked of any proposed course of action: Does it fit our guiding principles?¹

Determination and Positive Attitude

Decide, and then act as if you could not fail. Interestingly, this attitude of mind attracts to you forces from the universe that are fully capable of supporting you and bringing your decision into manifestation. If you ask a lot from life, you will receive a lot. If you ask a little, that is what you will get. Interestingly, the universe has no favorites and does not care either way how much or how little you ask for. As and you shall receive, is the way it was once expressed.²

Recognize Impact of Your Beliefs and Values

Beliefs are the assumptions we make about ourselves, about others in the world and about how we expect things to be. "These assumptions determine the way we behave and shape our decision-making process. They are often based on emotions rather than facts. We tend to notice 'facts' that reinforce our beliefs."⁷... More

Apply 80/20 Principle

The 80/20 Principle tells you that you should choose an option that produces 80% of outputs from 20% of inputs, and gather 80% of the data and perform 80% of the relevant analyses in the first 20% of time available... More

Understand Different Styles of Decision-Making

There are many models for understanding and characterizing the styles of interaction different people prefer to employ. According to the widely used Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), people are divided into thinkers and feelers:

A Thinker tends to use reason and logic
A Feeler tends to use values and subjective judgment... More

Use Fuzzy Logic in Innovation Projects

While the situations that fuzzy logic addresses are ambiguous, fuzzy logic itself is a very defined methodology. New business leaders use the managerial equivalent of fuzzy logic to address the ambiguity of the fuzzy front end.

Technology leaders have an analogous form of logic that they use to address the ambiguity of the fuzzy from end.

Determine What Can Go Wrong

This technique is called the “master method” of decision making. Ask yourself “What can go wrong in this situation? What is the worst possible outcome?” and decide whether or not you can live with those consequences.

Judge the Probabilities

Probabilities are basic to the art of decision making and arbitrage. The principle of arbitrage is to estimate the probable result if a given event occurs.

Warren Buffett, the world's most successful investor, is a master of judging the probabilities. He says, "Take the probability of loss times the amount of possible loss from the probability of gain times the amount of possible gain. That it what we're trying to do. It's imperfect, but that's what it is all about."

Case in Point Lessons from Michael Dell

"In leadership, it's important to be intuitive, but not at the expense of facts," writes Michael Dell¹, Founder of the Dell Computer Corporation. "Without the right data to back it up, emotion-based decision making during difficult times will inevitably lead a company into a greater danger. There is a very easy way to test whether you're making decisions based on emotions. When you come across data that are strikingly different from what you previously thought, how long does it take for you to shift your thinking? Do you deny the data and say, "Well, I don't believe this?"

Making Decisions in Discussion With Other People

How to solve problems and make decisions more effectively in discussions with other people. Your ability to communicate is the most important skill you can develop to get on to the fast track in your career. Perhaps the most important thing you do in business is to solve problems and make decisions, both by yourself and with other people... More