Theodore Roosevelt

Top 10 questions to ask yourself before embarking on decision making

1. What do you know about your own decision making process?

We all make decisions in slightly different ways but tend to follow the same pattern whether we are deciding when and where to go on holiday or whether to progress a pivotal clinical study.

By asking yourself some or all of the following questions you can begin to familiarise yourself with the way you tend to operate.

- Do I like making decisions?
- Do I tend to make my mind up all at once, or do I like to take time to reflect?
- How much time do I need before I can decide?
- What tends to motivate me into action?
- How much information do I need before I can make a decision?
- Do I prefer to consider one option or many options?
- Do I need to talk through the decision with other people or do I make my
  mind up through my own reflection?
- Do I like to use a tool to aid my thinking or do I find this confusing or
  constraining?

Once we begin to have an understanding of our own preferences we can start to consider others’ needs as part of the process.


2. What is the decision I want made?

We can often hinder the decision making process by not being clear on what it is, explicitly, that we want to decide upon.

Can you clearly define the decision that needs to be taken in a way that makes sense to all involved? If the decision is just for you, you still need to be clear about what are you deciding.

Is it where to go on holiday, is it when or is it both? Does one decision need to be taken before another?

If it is an organisational decision – exactly what is it you want to take a decision on?  


3. What type of decision is it? 

Decisions can usually be broken down into one of four simple categories: autocratic, consultative, democratic or consensual. Autocratic decisions need to be taken by one person and others are informed of the decision. Consultative decisions are again taken by one person, after consultation with others. Democratic decisions are taken by a group usually after a period of discussion and consensual decisions require the actual agreement of all key stakeholders.

What type of decision is yours?  If you are not clear on the type of decision you can end up having the decision questioned, over-turned or simply ignored.

4. How far reaching are the consequences of the decision?

Most decisions in organisations (approx 80%) tend to be procedural but about 20% of decisions pose a high level of risk to the organisation, or can result in major organisational change. Is your decision procedural or is there a significant consequence for the organisation?

What is the level of impact of your decision? Does it affect a few or many people? Who is waiting for your decision? How quickly does it need to be taken?


5. Who needs to be involved in the decision making process?

Assuming that this is not an autocratic decision to be taken by you, who are the key people to involve in the process and why specifically are they involved? What is their role in the decision – are they jointly accountable for the decision or are they involved in the implementation resulting from the decision?  Another of the barriers to effective decision making can be involving too many people – can you identify the key people and just involve these people and inform the others?


6. What do you know about the decision making needs of your key stakeholders?

What do you know about the people who are to be involved in the decision?  Are there some people who need time before they can make a decision, so are unlikely to be decisive in a meeting context?  Are there others who require a great deal of detail before they are comfortable committing to a course of action and others that prefer a simple visual representation? There may be some key stakeholders who can only make a decision if given a preferred option with two or three alternatives (with pros and cons).

Can you sketch out the needs of the key people so that you might communicate with them appropriately?


7. On what basis are you going to make your decision?

What is going to enable you to make the decision? Have you clearly documented any assumptions you or others have made?

Is the decision going to be based on the views of the stakeholders involved or is the decision to be based on data/facts? 

What data or information are needed based on your knowledge of the decision and the key stakeholders? What is the best way for these data to be presented to support decision making by those involved? Are you able to summarise (or request the summary of) any data in a meaningful way for discussion?

Are there any specific criteria that will be used to make the decision (e.g. cost, time, quality, risk, impacts)? A barrier to effective decision making can be a fuzziness around the decision making criteria which results in decisions being revisited.

There are decision making tools that you can use that can really help you and a team evaluate options in a systematic way. A good source of decision making tools is http://www.businessballs.com/problemsolving.htm
For complex decisions requiring creative input by all involved you may wish to consider using a facilitator.


8. Is a meeting needed or can the decision be taken via email/database or by one-on-one discussions?

We have many meetings these days and they can be ineffective vehicles for decision making. Is it possible for your type of decision to be taken without a meeting?

If a meeting is required what approach are you going to use to help the stakeholders reach a decision? Would it help to meet with each stakeholder individually in advance of a meeting?


9. How are you going to communicate the decision, and to whom?

There is little point in taking a business decision unless you clearly document that the decision has been taken (with any associated assumptions) and communicate, in a timely manner, to those impacted. 

Who is going to be impacted by your decision? What is the implication for those involved?

How will you or the team ensure that there is follow-through to ensure credibility for the whole decision making process?

10. Can you further improve the decision making processes you’re involved in?

Where would we be without continuous improvement? What is working well? Where are key areas for improvement to ensure that your decisions continue to become more and more effective?