Good managers are decisive. They can quickly size up a situation and reach the right conclusion about what should be done about it. To say of someone ‘He or she is decisive’ is praise indeed, as long as the decisions are effective.
Characteristics of the decision-making process
Decision-making is about analysing the situation or problem, identifying possible courses of action, weighing them up and defi ning a course of action.
Peter Drucker (1967) says: ‘A decision is a judgement. It is a choice between alternatives. It is rarely a choice between right and wrong. It is at best a choice between almost right and probably wrong – but much more often a choice between two courses of action neither of which is probably more nearly right than the other.’
You should not expect or even welcome a bland consensus view. The best decisions emerge from conflicting viewpoints. This is Drucker’s first law of decision-making: ‘One does not make a decision without disagreements’.
You can benefit from a clash of opinion as it prevents people falling
into the trap of starting with the conclusion and then looking for the facts that support it.
Alfred P Sloan of General Motors knew this. At a meeting of one of his top committees he said:
‘Gentlemen, I take it we are all in agreement on the decision here.’ Everyone around the table nodded assent. ‘Then,’ continued Mr Sloan, ‘I propose we postpone further discussion of the matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain
some understanding of what the decision is all about.’
Decision-making is about analysing the situation or problem, identifying possible courses of action, weighing them up and defi ning a course of action.
Peter Drucker (1967) says: ‘A decision is a judgement. It is a choice between alternatives. It is rarely a choice between right and wrong. It is at best a choice between almost right and probably wrong – but much more often a choice between two courses of action neither of which is probably more nearly right than the other.’
You should not expect or even welcome a bland consensus view. The best decisions emerge from conflicting viewpoints. This is Drucker’s first law of decision-making: ‘One does not make a decision without disagreements’.
You can benefit from a clash of opinion as it prevents people falling
into the trap of starting with the conclusion and then looking for the facts that support it.
Alfred P Sloan of General Motors knew this. At a meeting of one of his top committees he said:
‘Gentlemen, I take it we are all in agreement on the decision here.’ Everyone around the table nodded assent. ‘Then,’ continued Mr Sloan, ‘I propose we postpone further discussion of the matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain
some understanding of what the decision is all about.’
Ten approaches to being decisive
1. Make decisions faster – Jack Welch, when heading General Electric, used to say: ‘In today’s lightning-paced environment, you don’t have time to think about things. Don’t sit on decisions. Empty that in-basket so that you are free to search out new opportunities…
Don’t sit still. Anybody sitting still, you are going to guarantee they’re going to get their legs knocked from under them.’
2. Avoid procrastination – it is easy to put an e-mail demanding a decision into the ‘too difficult’ section of your actual or mental in-tray. Avoid the temptation to fill your time with trivial tasks so that the evil moment when you have to address the issue is postponed.
Make a start. Once you have got going you can deal with the unpleasant task of making a decision in stages. A challenge often becomes easier once we have started dealing with it.
Having spent five minutes on it, we don’t want to feel it was wasted, so we carry on and complete the job.
3. Expect the unexpected – you are then in the frame of mind needed to respond decisively to a new situation.
4. Think before you act – this could be a recipe for delay, but decisive people use their analytical ability to come to swift conclusions about the nature of the situation and what should be done about it.
5. Be careful about assumptions – we have a tendency to leap to conclusions and seize on assumptions that support our case, ignoring the facts that might contradict it.
6. Learn from the past – build on your experience in decision-making; what approaches work best. But don’t rely too much on precedents. Situations change. The right decision last time could well be the wrong one now.
7. Be systematic – adopt a rigorous problem-solving approach, This means specifying objectives (what you want to achieve), defining the criteria for judging whether they have been achieved, getting and analysing the facts, looking for causes rather than focusing on symptoms, developing and testing hypotheses and alternative solutions, and evaluating possible causes of action against the objectives and criteria.
8. Talk it through – before you make a signifi cant decision talk it through with someone who is likely to disagree so that any challenge they make can be taken into account (but you have to canvass opinion swiftly).
9. Leave time to think it over – swift decision-making is highly desirable but you must avoid knee-jerk reactions. Pause, if only for a few minutes, to allow yourself time to think through the decision you propose to make. Confirm that it is logical and fully justified.
10. Consider the potential consequences – McKinsey, the management consultants, call this ‘consequence management’. Every decision has a consequence and you should consider very carefully what that might be and how you would manage it. When making a decision it is a good idea to start from where you mean to end – define the end result and then work out the steps needed to achieve it.
1. Make decisions faster – Jack Welch, when heading General Electric, used to say: ‘In today’s lightning-paced environment, you don’t have time to think about things. Don’t sit on decisions. Empty that in-basket so that you are free to search out new opportunities…
Don’t sit still. Anybody sitting still, you are going to guarantee they’re going to get their legs knocked from under them.’
2. Avoid procrastination – it is easy to put an e-mail demanding a decision into the ‘too difficult’ section of your actual or mental in-tray. Avoid the temptation to fill your time with trivial tasks so that the evil moment when you have to address the issue is postponed.
Make a start. Once you have got going you can deal with the unpleasant task of making a decision in stages. A challenge often becomes easier once we have started dealing with it.
Having spent five minutes on it, we don’t want to feel it was wasted, so we carry on and complete the job.
3. Expect the unexpected – you are then in the frame of mind needed to respond decisively to a new situation.
4. Think before you act – this could be a recipe for delay, but decisive people use their analytical ability to come to swift conclusions about the nature of the situation and what should be done about it.
5. Be careful about assumptions – we have a tendency to leap to conclusions and seize on assumptions that support our case, ignoring the facts that might contradict it.
6. Learn from the past – build on your experience in decision-making; what approaches work best. But don’t rely too much on precedents. Situations change. The right decision last time could well be the wrong one now.
7. Be systematic – adopt a rigorous problem-solving approach, This means specifying objectives (what you want to achieve), defining the criteria for judging whether they have been achieved, getting and analysing the facts, looking for causes rather than focusing on symptoms, developing and testing hypotheses and alternative solutions, and evaluating possible causes of action against the objectives and criteria.
8. Talk it through – before you make a signifi cant decision talk it through with someone who is likely to disagree so that any challenge they make can be taken into account (but you have to canvass opinion swiftly).
9. Leave time to think it over – swift decision-making is highly desirable but you must avoid knee-jerk reactions. Pause, if only for a few minutes, to allow yourself time to think through the decision you propose to make. Confirm that it is logical and fully justified.
10. Consider the potential consequences – McKinsey, the management consultants, call this ‘consequence management’. Every decision has a consequence and you should consider very carefully what that might be and how you would manage it. When making a decision it is a good idea to start from where you mean to end – define the end result and then work out the steps needed to achieve it.
Think before you act and talk it through seem a little contradictory to make decisions faster. You need to move forward, but not without process. You must also think about who is making the decision and who is not. Organizations make many decisions and don't think about the organizational process of decision making.
ReplyDeleteThis is why we teach use of RACI for decision making and action. R = responsible, A = accountable, C = consult, I = inform. I actually think some of the most helpful piece is clarifying the difference between consult and inform. If someone things that you are expected to consult with them, but you only think you'll inform them of the decision, much trouble can be caused.
Whether a large project or ongoing decision making, getting high agreement of both the what and how of decision making helps a great deal.
Jamie Flinchbaugh
www.jamieflinchbaugh.com