Leadership Quality: Effective Decision Making

A story from Mahabharata ...

When Duryodhana arrived at Krishna's palace seeking help, Krishna was asleep. Duryodhana seated himself near Krishna's head. Arjuna also arrived to ask for Krishna's help, and he sat at Krishna's feet. Krishna opened His eyes and looked at Arjuna and welcomed him.

?Duryodhana asked Krishna to fight on his side in the war. Krishna explained that He had vowed not to pick up weapons in the war. So Duryodhana was given a choice. He could either have an unarmed Krishna on his side or all of Krishna’s army. Duryodhana thought that Krishna without His weapons would not be of much use in the war, so he opted for Krishna's army. Arjuna humbly requested the Lord to be his charioteer and guide him to success and opted for Krishna by his side.

Duryodhana was arrogant and did not know the value of the Lord's presence on his side. Blinded by his pride, he sat near the Lord's head and chose unwisely. He paid the price for his arrogance, and his entire family was wiped out in the war that followed. That choice made all the difference in what happened to the result of the war.

What you ask depends on what you think and how you think. As a leader, it’s important to ask for the right resources. Managers utilize decision-making as a leadership talent to analyze situations and choose how to move the organization forward. The following steps are included in the decision-making process: Identifying the challenge, creating solutions, weighing choices, making a conclusion, and sharing the decision with others.

For good decision-making, remember the 3 Cs – Challenge, Choices, and Consequences.?

The skills that you usually use in the decision-making process are Research, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Time Management, and Emotional intelligence.

Effective decision-making is defined here as the process through which alternatives are selected and then managed through implementation to achieve business objectives. 'Effective decisions result from a systematic process, with clearly defined elements, that is handled in a distinct sequence of steps' [Drucker, 1967]

To make a good decision, you should remove all constraints and influencers, withdraw from the problem, and see from a distance. This brings clarity to making a sound decision. Wisdom shouldn't be lost with growth. You need to strip all success and then decide.?There’s a great folk story on this ...

Once a king requests a great saint who was begging near the palace to come and stay in the palace. The beggar under one condition agrees to this. He says, he needs a room where nobody should enter.?King happily agrees and instructs his soldiers to ensure nobody has access to his room. King ensures the beggar gets the best clothes and jewelry. ?Days pass by and every time the king asks for some advice, he sees the saint going into his room and coming out and communicating his thoughts. The amused king enters the room and sees that all the saint had was a begging bowl and old torn clothes. Looking at the surprised king, the saint says …

Any major decision to be made I come to this room, remove new clothes and jewellery, and wear my old clothes and then I get clarity in thoughts. Naked thought is important to make a sound decision

A good decision-maker chooses actions that give the best outcome for themselves and others. They enter the decision-making process with an open mind and do not let their own biases sway them. They make decisions rationally, after researching alternatives and understanding the consequences.

Decision-Making Styles:

1. Command Decision: Decisions are made with no involvement. This framework makes sense in crisis situations decisions need to be fast. Not an inclusive style
2. Consult Decision: Consult decisions invite inputs from others as part of the decision-making process. Large, complex decisions generally have better success using a consultative approach. The RAPID framework fits here
3. Democratic Decision: Democratic decisions allow for discussion of options and selection by vote. This option is best for decisions where there is low risk, and decision-makers have equal weight.
4. Consensus Decision: Consensus decisions allow for deliberation until all participants agree to one decision. While everyone is head and included, this approach lacks agility and increases the probability of missed opportunities.?

RAPID (A framework for Consult Decision Making Style)

RAPID is a good decision-making process framework one can adopt - Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input, and Decide

RAPID helps us get role clarity early in the decision process. When engaging with the framework, the first step is always determining which groups or individuals will participate in which of the R-A-P-I-D roles. The process of establishing these roles is both the first step in RAPID, but also, a key benefit of the framework

RAPID helps teams identify - Who owns the decision??Who will have accountability for outcomes? Who provides input? Who must agree? And Who drives execution?

RAPID model is not always linear and often contains exchange loops between roles such as Agree and Recommend and Recommend and Input. RAPID is successful when all roles have delivered on their assigned roles' responsibility while leveraging other roles' contributions in order to make a best-fit decision based on the scope of the decision goals.

Whether or not you are making a localized decision or working through a complex cross-business group decision, it's important to understand how to navigate the decision in the most optimal way, how to clarify roles in the decision-making process, and how to leverage decision frameworks like RAPID when making high-impact complicated decisions

• Think through when to use different models of decision making – employ the right style for the decision at-hand.
• Use RAPID to define roles in decision making – especially beneficial for complex decision processes across multiple domains
• Strive for excellence, not perfection
• Optimize globally