Making Decisions Dynamically

This is the Making Decisions Dynamically course, and this is the fourth course of the Decision-making and Problem-solving for Business series.

Effective Learning

FAQs

After you generate solutions to a business problem, it's time to haul in the net and get your catch to shore. In business, you too have to earn your "decision-making legs."

Violate a principle of decision making, and you'll probably end up in your supervisor's office having to explain the decision you made. In this topic, you'll learn how to avoid that unpleasant trip by practicing principles of sound decision making:

• focusing on the future

• examining the timing

• considering linked decisions

. In this topic, you'll learn about various decision-making styles and how to adopt the most effective one. You'll explore:

• the reflexive style

• the emotional style

• the analytical style

• the comprehensive style.

The thought you put into a business decision is a lot like the fuel you put into a car. Unless there's a concrete, engineered method of putting that thought to work, all your potential decision-making energy will simply burn up or evaporate.

The Science of Better Learning

In this topic, you'll learn how to perform the steps of a PMI analysis:

• List the pluses of the decision.

• List the minuses of the decision.

• List the "interesting" aspects of the decision.

• Analyze the results.

In using an ease-and-effect matrix to prioritize potential business solutions:

• rating solutions according to "ease" of implementation

• rating solutions according to "effect" of implementation

• placing rated solutions in the matrix and prioritizing them

In this topic, you'll follow Libby's progress and learn how a team effectively performs the steps of the nominal group technique:

• anonymously voting on initial favored solutions

• recording the votes in round-robin fashion

• clarifying any confusing ideas

• evaluating the final solutions

In this topic, you learned how to perform steps of a return-on-investment measure to evaluate the financial prospects of a given business decision.

Those steps were: establishing revenue projections, specifying anticipated expenditures, and calculating the resulting net cash flow.

Why should you not implement your favored, proposed decision? The word "not" in this question may be your best decision-making ally.

By effectively discussing potential business decisions with uneasy or competitive counterparts, you'll reap several benefits, such as:

• avoiding wasted time caused by misunderstandings

• building better relationships with all business associates

• enhancing your career success.

In this topic, you'll learn how to dig your way out of decision-making stagnation by effectively making compromises and managing trade-offs with business associates. You'll do this by using the following strategies:

• aiming for a win-win outcome

• generating as many options as possible

• establishing an objective standard

In this topic, you'll discover how to engage in the latter and truly open the doors to productive decision making by:

• inquiring about assumptions

• generating options instead of ultimatums

• focusing on common ground and not on positions.

In this topic, you'll discover how to engage in the latter and truly open the doors to productive decision making by:

• inquiring about assumptions

• generating options instead of ultimatums

• focusing on common ground and not on positions.

Use this job aid to help you conduct a PMI analysis to evaluate a business decision. Steps and tips for conducting a PMI analysis

Use this job aid to help you perform the devil's advocacy technique to evaluate a potential business decision. Tips for devil's advocacy techniques

Use this job aid to help prepare you for discussing a business decision with an uneasy partner. Strategies and tips for conducting a genuine dialogue

Bad decisions have bad consequences. To avoid these, you should observe the principles of sound decision making.

There are four different decision-making styles:

1. the reflexive style

2. the emotional style

3. the analytical style

4. the comprehensive style

A PMI analysis is a type of scale on which you weigh the merits of a potential business decision by rating its pluses, minuses, and interesting aspects. Regardless of the direction in which the balance eventually tips, you will find out whether the decision has the substance necessary to justify its undertaking.

To help you do this, you can use an ease-and-effect matrix.

This entails

- rating solutions according to ease of implementation

- rating solutions according to effect of implementation

placing rated solutions in the matrix and prioritizing them

You can use this technique by applying the following steps:

- anonymously voting on initial favored solutions

- record the votes in round-robin fashion

- clarify any confusing ideas

evaluate final solutions

One way to be money-wise is to use a return-on- investment measure to evaluate your business decisions.

The steps of this measure are

- establishing revenue projections

- specifying anticipated expenditures

calculating the resulting net cash flow

The devil's advocacy technique is a useful way of evaluating a proposed business decision. The steps of this technique are listing the evidence opposing your business decision and explaining both sides of the argument to a colleague and getting his or her input.

Sometimes the best way out of decision-making stagnation is to effectively make compromises and manage trade-offs with business associates.

There will always be competition in business, but that does not mean you cannot reach productive decisions with people you do not completely trust or with business associates and competitors who keep their own priorities topmost in their minds.

The bargaining that takes place once concrete issues get narrowed down represents a comparatively narrow aspect of decision making – before you can reach that stage, it is crucial to concentrate on the broader underlying concern of first establishing a relationship and setting mutual goals with your counterpart. You can do this by conducting genuine dialogue.

Use this learning aid to visualize the layout of an ease-and-effect matrix as used in the topic by the same name.

In this course, you'll discover a wealth of decision-making principles and techniques:

• the foundational thinking behind wise decision making

• decision-making techniques to use by yourself

• decision-making strategies to employ with others

• ways to build productive and dynamic relationships with decision-making counterparts.

The Power of Professional Development - Why Investing in Your Career is Always Relevant

What's next?

You think knowing stuff changes the game? You think sitting in a library, stacking up facts like you’re building a Jenga tower, is gonna make you a winner? Man, that’s cute. But life ain't a trivia night. Information alone? It’s worthless. It’s like having a Lamborghini in your garage but you never learned how to drive. You just sit in it, making engine noises. Vroom vroom. People walk by, they see the car, but they also see you ain't going nowhere. You got all this knowledge, all these textbooks, but when life throws a punch, you’re still looking up the definition of "duck." It’s what you *do* with that information that actually matters. Don't be the person with the shiny car and no keys.