Effective Decision Making

The aim of this book is to quickly empower you to make better decisions by giving you step-by-step explanations of the best techniques. We always make decisions under uncertainty and pressure, especially in business. We need faster and better decisions to cope, but we don''t have the time to learn how to make them well. That is where I come in. I wrote this book to allow you to make better decisions without spending weeks studying theory and practice. THE INTRODUCTION gives you a snapshot of two decision-making biases, of the worst mistake you can do when making decision, and a lesson taken straight from philosophy. - Decision Biases (why your brain isn''t always your friend in decisions) - The Worst Mistake in Decision-Making - A Lesson From Another Time THE FIRST CHAPTER looks at frameworks of reference, meaning how you can apply decision-making to achieve your goals, for example how and why some decisions are able to automatically give you a competitive advantage. - The OODA Loop - The Recognition-Primed Decision Model - GROW or the John Whitmore Model - The PDSA Cycle CHAPTERS 2 TO 5 look at separate phases of decision-making: understanding your context, understanding the problem, generating solutions and selecting one option out of many. 2 - CONTEXT Contexts can be very different - and there is no one size fits all approach, which is why this book provides you with five. - SWOT and PEST - TELOS - Porter''s Five Forces - Causal Loops Diagrams 3 - PROBLEM ASSESSMENT Before making decisions, then, you need to work on finding out exactly what you are trying to solve. This chapter gives you 5 tools to do so: - Root Cause Analysis: Ishikawa''s Diagramand the 5 Whys Technique - Pareto Analysis - Kipling Method (5W1H) - CATWOE 4 - GENERATING IDEAS In "pure" decision-making, little attention is given to this phase, as it belongs to a different field: creativity. This book includes two tools: - Zwicky''s Box - SCAMPER 5 - WEIGHING ALTERNATIVES This book gives you six tools for this, each one with its specificities: - Weights and Factors: the Grid Analysis and the KT Matrix - The Paired Comparison Analysis - The Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix - The Analytic Hierarchy Process - The Eisenhower Matrix CHAPTER 6 AND 7 look at group decisions, meaning whether it''s a good idea to make decisions in a group and, if it is, how that group should make decisions. 6 - DO YOU NEED YOUR TEAM? You can either involve your team in decisions or exclude them. Often, managers are torn between these two options - you have three tools to help you though: - The Vroom-Yetton-Jago Model - The Hoy-Tarter Model - The Hersey-Blanchard Model 7 - GROUP TECHNIQUES To be used when making decisions in a group is necessary. - The Nominal Group Technique - The Delphi Method - Hartnett''s Consensus-Oriented Decision-Making Model - The Stepladder Technique - DeBono''s Six Thinking Hats - The Charette Procedure - RAPID CHAPTERS 8 AND 9 look at decisions in corporate strategy and analyse a decision''s consequence 8 - CORPORATE STRATEGY These decision tools have all been developed for corporations, but they still hold value for smaller businesses. - The BCG Matrix - The Advantage Matrix - The GE Matrix - Blind Spot Analysis 9 - CONSEQUENCES In other words: "how can I make sure that the decision I made is the best one and will work in my specific situation?" Unfortunately nobody can answer this. Any decision method can only skew the odds of having made the right decision in your favour. That said, there are a few techniques you can apply. - Impact Assessment - Plus-Minus-Interesting - Decision Trees - Cost-Benefit Analysis - Futures Wheel

Few managers devote enough attention to the thinking processes they should apply to their jobs. Yet long, energetic hours at work are wasted if business decisions are not logical, clear – and correct. Effective Decision Making is the definitive guide to the crucial managerial skill of creative thinking. In this classic book John Adair, Britain’s foremost expert on leadership training, tells you everything you need to know to enable you to analyse your own thought processes, think outside the box and know when to turn to others to help you make your decisions. Including advice on every aspect of the decision-making process, Effective Decision Making will help you to: • Approach problems efficiently and effectively – define objective, collect information, develop options, evaluate, decide and implement • Think in a more imaginative way • Know when to rely on your intuition • Feel more confident about arguing your case • Develop your thinking skills With examples of good and poor decision making, as well as exercises designed to help you maintain and improve your mental fitness, Effective Decision Making will enable you to master one of the most important skills needed to make you an effective leader.

You''re tempted to accept a promising job offer in another city, but moving would entail considerable sacrifice on the part of your family. What should you do? Your elderly mother can no longer take care of herself but she doesn''t get along with your husband and dreads the prospect of moving into a nursing home. What is the solution? Whether you are faced with decisions momentous or trivial, how you go about resolving everyday dilemmas will definitely affect your level of satisfaction in life. In this engrossing and entertaining guide, David Welch, who has studied the decision-making process at the highest levels, shows how both the science and the art of decision-making are essential to us all. Welch lays out nine steps to effective decision-making and then demonstrates how to apply these steps to real-world situations. He gives readers the intellectual tools to assess their strengths and weaknesses and stresses that self-knowledge is critical for making the right decisions. This enjoyable, clearly written guide will enable decision-makers at every level to find the best possible solution for dilemmas both big and small.

In this engrossing and entertaining guide, Welch shows how both the art and the science of decision making is essential to everyone. He lays out nine steps to effective decision making and how to apply them to real-world situations.

This guide takes managers step-by-step through the decision making process and looks at the realities surrounding both the formulation of policy and execution of decisions. It creates a framework for implementation which aims to take account of likely real-world scenarios.

Decisions and problems can often leave people with a dilemma: knowing that a decision is required, but uncertain how to ensure that it is the best one and that it will be successfully executed. The paradox is that the very pressure for a decision often breeds indecisiveness. Think on Your Feet addresses this fundamental problem, enabling you to find the best solutions and options, avoid pitfalls, manage risk, work with people to ensure that decisions succeed, and understand how you can improve the way you typically operate when making decisions.