Are you focused on the right decisions?
Is your data?
Much is made of making the right decisions. Hundreds of blogs and articles offer techniques on weighing alternatives, building consensus, challenging perspective, and other great concepts. Great concepts assuming you have time to apply them to the myriad of decisions that cross your path. Great assuming that you apply the techniques properly, measure the results objectively, and learn to make better decisions in the future. Where is the time?
Steve Jobs famously wore the same clothes to work everyday in order to cut down on the number of decisions he was making. It was certainly one way to go about it. Another would have been to realize that his clothing choice was an insignificant decision or one better made by others. In other words, he chose to make one singular big decision — he could have opted to simply let someone else make that decision for him (delegation) or simply recognized it as a simple choice requiring minimal thought (deflation). Regardless, cutting down the number of big decisions you make is critical to the success of most executives.
Only a few decisions are really big. Only a few decisions can be made well. The opportunity is to delegate the rest. The problem is figuring out which ones those are.
You should recognize that decisions are actually inescapable. Even Jobs eccentric spin on the task of dressing daily was wrought with active decision-making. A closet full of a single outfit choice while cartoonish is an innovative idea for cutting decisions, but a simple look at the image above shows that plenty of decisions continued. Shoes, belts, sizes, styles of jeans, replacement, laundry, etc — all lingered as decisions to be made or delegated.
It Starts With Three Questions— What will you focus on? What will you delegate? What will you ignore?
There are plenty of four squares and decision matrices created to help executives through this first phase. I prefer a more mapped and hierarchical approach. Decision-making is a waterfall. Their are decisions I opted to make, decisions I prioritize for others, and those I leave for my organization to sort out or ultimately deprioritize or ignore.
If I start with a question or decision inventory, not my preferred method, I recognize that only One-Fifth of those decisions ultimately matter. I also remember that solid behavioral science teaches that I can only truly focus on 3–5 things at a time. Decision inventories often list dozens upon dozens of decisions (or equally popular — List of Big Questions), an organization is unlikely to handle more than two dozen, well. Organizations that attempt to make more decisions than behavioral science advises soon encounter (or ignore) a second big issue, data collection.
If a decision is important enough to make, it is important enough to measure… BECAUSE that is the only way to learn from it.
If measuring the result of a decision isn’t important, there was no point in making it.
If it is difficult for an organization to handle more than a dozen big questions, it is even more difficult to collect the data, engineer the feedback, structure the repositories, construct the reporting, and analyze the results of half that many. Organizations that attempt to make too many decisions waste a lot of time and resources, regardless of whether they try to measure them or not.
A well-resourced learning organization has analysts and data support dedicated to engineering learning systems aligned to all the major decisions. They often align down through each level of management covering each layer of delegated decision-making, often down to the front-line knowledge worker. And then there is everybody else…
Most organizations can’t invest to that degree in their business. There is hope, but only if they start early and/or prioritize well. The most important decisions have a habit of recurring. If a business succeeds and grows, by focusing on the most important ones, they will eventually expand their support structures to encompass their full decision spectrum. Conversely, those who fail to prioritize will only deepen the divided. Wasted effort, time, and money actually add to the issue and often confuse the decision inventory.
Organizations need to start early. Fractional investment is more than possible, it is actually ideal. Spending time determining and measuring your biggest decisions early in your organizations growth cycle often speeds growth and better still, makes it far more predictable. While it is likely bias, my advice is to hire some help. Outside support should help you through that initial decision process and help you focus on what matters most. Invest in experience to help you do it better. It is too important not to.
