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Wise Decision Makers Are Made, Not Born

The best decision makers are usually the most experienced decision makers. As a manager and leader, every step you take requires decision-making skills.

Part of your job as a change leader is to educate and assist your staff and those on your change team in making decisions with a cross-boundary view of the organization so they don’t miss important implications that their decision can have throughout the organization.

What makes this more challenging is that the pressure to make the “right” decision is often very high. The people to whom you delegate decisions are fully aware that someone could stand up in a big room and ask, “Who the heck decided that?” Help your employees to learn how to make wise decisions and your time investment will pay off tenfold.

Break Decisions Down

At first glance, a decision that needs to be made may appear very straightforward. The question “Do we put Code 3 or Code 4 into the computer system?” sounds simple enough. But when we organize this question into smaller pieces and begin dealing with each piece, we will likely find that there are layers of questions to be answered and complexities to be sorted out. A very simple question can turn into a really big deal and you may have to talk to many different people to figure out how to make that decision.

Structure the decision in a way that allows you to break it down into choices that someone can make.

Ask questions such as:

1. What specifically is the problem?
2. What are the smaller pieces of the problem?
3. Why does this problem need to be solved?
4. What information do I need to gather to better understand the problem and potential solutions?
5. Who are the people I need to talk with to better understand the implications of making this decision?
6. What criteria or standards does this solution have to meet?
7. If I solve this piece of the problem, will it lead to a solution of the next piece, or to a new problem, or both?

The reality is that decision-making can get complicated very quickly. Let’s say someone suggests, “Let’s not go crazy, let’s just do it the way we do it today.” And then we find out that we do it three different ways. What do we do now?

We need decision-making skills to solve problems and select one course of action from a number of possible alternatives. Most decisions involve some conflict or dissatisfaction. The challenge is to find a solution where the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

Tips for Decision-Making

• Separate symptoms from the disease. A decision that fails to deal with the core problem will certainly generate an unsatisfactory solution, usually spawning new problems.
• Look at all decisions in the context of risk and reward. This approach keeps the decision in a strategic business context.
• Don’t get locked in to the first solution that appears. Let a solution sit, even if just momentarily, and come back to it. Always validate your thinking. If we don’t consider all the possible alternatives we are usually passing the buck to someone else for a future decision. Make it now, and make it stick.
• Speed is of the essence. Fast decisions (not snap decisions) allow more time to make adjustments as decisions are implemented and allow the team to move on to other important areas. When decisions are delayed, ensure there is justification.
• Don’t let a frantic pace mask problems that require decisions. Managers usually operate in a day-to-day environment that is frantic. It’s difficult to recognize obvious problems requiring decisions. One benefit of a structured change project is the opportunity during the planning phases to identify decisions that will need to be made.
• Look for bottlenecks in decision-making. You may find that one person is making decisions repeatedly for similar problems. If this is the case, have the experienced person develop guidelines for decision-making so it can be delegated to lower levels in the organization. Otherwise, you may have a built-in barrier to growth.
• Taking no action is a decision. Just make sure the no-action approach isn’t simply the result of not working through the process.
• Follow-through. It’s great to make a decision. You’ve worked hard on it. You want to put it behind you and move on to the next issue. But don’t forget the follow-through. Make sure everyone understands the basis for the decision and eliminate any misinterpretations.