Effective Decision Making

An individual’s ability to make good decisions impacts every level of the organization, as well as the customers whom the organization serves. Whether or not people work as managers and whether people work at the top, middle, or ground-level of an organization, business success depends on the ability of employees to make great decisions with as much consistency as possible. This workshop examines a 7-step, systematic approach to decision making. Participants explore the objectives of each step and several tools that they can use to rigorously address each piece of the decision-making puzzle.Using group discussions, team problem solving, and role-playing practice, participants develop a pragmatic, self-confident approach to making decisions with limited information in situations involving uncertainty. Who Should AttendAnyone who leads or participates in making decisions for themselves, for their team, for their organization, and for their customers. You Will LearnAfter this workshop, participants will be able to:Make decisions with limited amounts of information and when there is uncertaintyDemonstrate the analytical skills necessary to make sound, well-informed, and timely decisions, or recommendations to other decision makersApply a systematic decision-making process, which includes risk assessment, communication guidelines for how to share their evaluations, and the development of action plans for how to implement these decisionsEffectively respond to decision making challenges or obstaclesCourse Outline: A systematic approach for making decisions Personal Assessment“How Good is Your Decision Making?”Step 1: Create a Constructive EnvironmentStakeholder analysisDeciding how to decide and how much to involve other peopleThe Vroom-Yetton-Jago Decision ModelThe Kepner-Tregoe Matrix for making unbiased, risk-assessed decisionsUnderstanding the decision cycleMaking decisions under pressureAvoiding GroupThink during team decision makingStep 2: Investigate the Situation in DetailDetermining whether the stated problem is the real issue through Root Cause AnalysisHow to extract the greatest amount of information from what you knowUsing Inductive Reasoning to draw sound conclusions from the factsHow to explore a problem from multiple perspectives to make sure that you are not missing important informationStep 3: Generate A Number of Good AlternativesCreativity/idea-generation toolsOvercoming barriers to creativityReverse BrainstormingBrainwritingRound-Robin Brainstorming for teamsUsing Random Input – how to make creative leaps with little actual informationConsidering how others outside your group might influence or be affected by a decisionReframing MatrixPerceptual PositionsStep 4: Explore Your OptionsHow to evaluate feasibility, risks, and implications of each alternativeRisk AnalysisRisk Impact/Probability ChartORAPAPA or Impact Analysis for considering the potential consequences of each optionStarbursting to think about the questions you should ask to evaluate each optionCost-Benefits AnalysisStep 5: Select the Best SolutionDecision Matrix Analysis for reliably and rigorously comparing optionsDecision TreesReaching a Group Consensus for team decision makingDeciding whether to go forwardGo/No-Go DecisionsWhat-If AnalysisStep 6: Evaluate Your PlanHow to “sense check” your decisionConsidering common psychological biases in decision makingBlindspot Analysis to assess whether common decision-making problems may have undermined the processThe Ladder of Inference to avoid jumping to conclusionsDecision making under uncertaintyThe impact of ethics and values on decision makingStep 7: Communicate Your Decision & Take ActionHow to assemble information from the decision-making process into a communication strategyForce Field Analysis Up to 30 students Virtual Classes will be a live, Instructor lead class in Zoom for Government, a virtual technical assistant VTA will be available to assist students with any technical issues, take roll, administer evaluations, and distribute certificates of completion. Course materials will be provided electronically.Onsite classes will be held at your location. The instructor will travel to you. Materials will be printed and shipped to your site. A sign-up sheet will be provided for student to enter their name (as they want it on their certificate) and the email address to send the certificate to. GSA travel costs will be added to the course fee. Contact us for a travel estimate.A minimum of 2 weeks lead time is needed for virtual classes, 3 weeks for onsite classes.Questions? Contact our training coordinator via email or phone at (202) 843.5447.