Avoid Four Deadly Traps in Decision Making

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  ndlicht105/26/08 Report as spam
  1

  Decision making isn't all YOU

  It took me a long time but I have learned how to involve others and their expertise into honestly seeing and isses not subjectively seeing them. Thats important and maybe even critical in key decisionmaking.
  
  Herea a few points that this can address:
  1. Ramifications - Have you thought through the impact of your decision on internal staff, the implementation issues, its value v its premiss ROI? Have you though through its effect on Partners, Channels and their ability to remain Partners and Channels.
  
  In trying to come up with A good idea or a problem needing solving you must first deeply understand the departments involved or effected by your scope of problem v solution or decisiopn making. Let key people who deale with the area your decision will effect into your ehought process. Lay out the issues, problems and ask them how your thoughts wouls effect their ability to deliver. Let them offer their experienced based insights. You intended decision may be more upsetting than problem solving and you will know it befor you go with it.
  
  2. Why Bother
  Sounds almost rediculous to ask but its how you justify and validate the merit of your path. Again, seek out the folks in sales, marketing, support, tech and manufacturing. Let them into your thinking and let them tell you if it effects them, how and if its even worthwhile. They can quantify the impact better than you because they know their side of the equation better than you.
  
  3. Whats the machinery needed to implement the decision? Very important because any decision must have the machanics in place to become a real and implemented policy. Consider if you have the machinery in place for implementation. Identify who or which groups will be effected and gt them to help you define and create the machinery so it gets done and it actually works. Great decisions fail when the mechanics of implementation are not in place and managed for taking the decision and implementing it.
  
  4. Post decision
  Make sure everyone is aware of the decision and how to "go with it". That means plan its implementation. Each department needs to buy in for their reasons and see the decision as great for them. That means that announcements must be framed differently and precisely by department so it shows a correlation between the decision and how it impact them specifically. Dept heads must be involved in this framing, delivery of the decision and having the mechanics of implementation ready for instant management of the implementation.
  
  Thats my take on the decision making. Its not making the decision, its understanding why its needed and if/how it can or should be implemented so the intended results actually materialize as seamlessly as possible.
  
  Neil Licht, ndlicht
  answers@ucanpreventbadhires.com
  www.ucanprevenybadhires.com

•  
  ndlicht105/26/08 Report as spam
  2

  Decision making isn't all YOU

  It took me a long time but I have learned how to involve others and their expertise into honestly seeing issues and problems, not subjectively seeing them. Thats important and maybe even critical in key decisionmaking.
  
  Here's a few points that this can address:
  1. Ramifications - Have you thought through the impact of your decision on internal staff, the implementation issues, its value v its premiss ROI? Have you though through its effect on Partners, Channels and their ability to remain Partners and Channels.
  
  In trying to come up with A good idea, see a problem and solve it, in trying to make decisions, you must first deeply understand the departments involved or effected by your scope of problem v solution or decisiopn making. Let key people who deal with the area your decision will effect into your thought process. Lay out the issues, problems and ask them how your thoughts would effect their ability to deliver. Let them offer their experienced based insights. Your intended decision may be more upsetting than problem solving and, in this way, you will know it before you go with it.
  
  2. Why Bother
  Sounds almost rediculous to ask but its how you justify and validate the merit of your path. Again, seek out the folks in sales, marketing, support, tech and manufacturing. Let them into your thinking and let them tell you if it effects them, how and if its even worthwhile. They can quantify the impact better than you because they know their side of the equation better than you.
  
  3. Whats the machinery needed to implement the decision?
  Very important because any decision must have the mechanics in place to become a real and implemented policy. Consider if you have the machinery in place for implementation. Identify who or which groups will be effected and get them to help you define and create the machinery so it gets done and it actually works as intended.
  
  Great decisions fail when the mechanics of implementation are not in place and managed for taking the decision and implementing it.
  
  4. After the decision is made...making it work
  Make sure everyone is aware of the decision and how to "go with it". That means plan its implementation. Each department needs to buy in for their reasons and see the decision as great for them. That means that announcements must be framed differently and precisely by department so it shows a correlation between the decision and how it impacts them specifically. Dept heads must be involved in this framing and delivery of the decision and having the mechanics in place for implementation ready for instant management of the implementation.
  
  Thats my take on the decision making. Its not making the decision, its understanding why its needed and if/how it can or should be and, if you go with the decision, implemented as seamlessly as possible so the intended results actually materialize.
  
  Neil Licht, ndlicht
  answers@ucanpreventbadhires.com
  www.ucanprevenybadhires.com

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  mos23338905/26/08 Report as spam
  3

  RE: Avoid Four Deadly Traps in Decision Making

  A solid set of decision making trip wires although I contend that any decision ever made is guilty in a material way, of failing at least one of these tests. That means, that of all the decisions ever made in the world, they're all guilty of these things and yet we still seem to make things work from day to day. The morale of the story - be aware of these "Deadly Traps" but don't not make decisions for fear of being guilty of failing one of these tests.
  I reckon not making a decision is worse than making one that's flawed in one of these four areas.
  March on...

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  Jack Pierce05/27/08 Report as spam
  4

  RE: Avoid Four Deadly Traps in Decision Making

  I would add two more:
  
  5) Solving a short-term problem while causing another, possible more severe,
  longer-term problem. (I guess this would be a cousin of Framing.)
  
  6) Appeasing others (or being too susceptible to other voices) as a major part of
  your solution. Assuming this is a business decision, it's almost a given that one
  or more groups will be at odds with your solution.

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  pjmchugh@...05/28/08 Report as spam
  5

  The Need for Broad Participation in Decision Support

  The 4 traps Raiffa emphasized in his workshop that cloud the decision making process are all very specific to the individual (anchoring, status-quo, confirming evidence, and framing). By engaging a broader audience with different perspectives in the decision making effort, while each will be "colored" by elements of these traps, their collective conclusions will likely reflect more accurate insights then that of any one individual (The Wisdom of Crowds concept).
  
  External strategy consultants can play a key supporting role in lifting the decision making "clouds" to help make the best, more accurate, choice more obvious. Perhaps this is why consultants are sometimes accused of just telling client's what they already know...the problem may be that the client just didn't realize that they knew it!
  
  Patrick McHugh
  Managing Director
  BitInsight (www.bitinsight.com)