Building a Path to Effective Decision-Making

According to a recent Mckinsey survey , only 20 percent of organizations excel at making quick and effective decisions. So what? Well.. this improvement in speed and quality of decision-making turns out to be a massive competitive advantage - organizations in this group reported better financial results, higher growth rates and/or overall returns compared to the rest of the pack.

What is it that separates how high performing organizations make decisions from the other 80%? It turns out to be more complicated than one would think. Management consultants are often brought in to help untangle the web that is a broken decision making process. But there is good news - you don’t need to spend an arm and a leg to transform your organization’s decision making! If your team is struggling with dysfunctional decision making, here are steps you can take to improve it:

  1. Assess your current decision processes - The first step will be to assess your current processes, structures, and roles, and understand the strengths and gaps.

  2. Design a new decision-making framework & process - Next, based on the gaps you found, you’ll need to establish a new and improved decision-making framework and process (More on this below).

  3. Operationalize the framework - Once you’ve got your framework & process ready, it’s time to put them into action. You need to operationalize them with communication and training programs to make sure they are being embraced and implemented across the team.

  4. Monitor and evaluate - To see if the framework & process are doing their job well, you should set up ways to keep an eye on them. That means monitoring and evaluating to make sure everything's running smoothly as planned. It’s important to create a process that is documented and recorded. What gets measured gets managed!

Empowering Teams: Elements of An Effective Decision Making Framework

When it comes to designing your decision-making framework and process, several elements should be considered. Here are the essential components commonly found in the best decision-making frameworks:

  • Clear decision objectives and desired outcomes: - It is essential to have a clear understanding of what the decision aims to achieve and the desired results. This clarity ensures that everyone involved is aligned and working towards a common goal.

  • Success criteria: - Establishing specific success criteria helps evaluate the effectiveness of the decision and determine whether the desired outcomes have been met.

  • Defined roles and responsibilities: - Assigning clear roles and responsibilities to team members involved in the decision-making process ensures accountability and eliminates confusion. Each person should understand their specific duties and contributions to the decision-making process.

  • Decision options and considerations of risks: - Generating a range of decision options allows for evaluation and consideration of potential risks.

  • Feedback, discussion, and voting: - Encouraging open feedback and fostering productive discussions among stakeholders to uncover ideas, perspectives, and concerns. Open dialogue leads to well-informed decisions. In some cases, formal voting mechanisms may be utilized to reach a consensus or determine the final decision.

By incorporating these into your team’s process, you will establish a structure that maximizes the likelihood of making informed decisions aligned with your objectives.

Decision Making As Your Competitive Advantage

Improving your org’s decision-making will give you a competitive edge and drive collaboration, accountability, and transparency. While not without its challenges, building a process of quick and effective decisions is entirely achievable with the right effort and approach.

At Colloq we’ve built a dedicated platform to address these issues. Our vision is to arm leaders with the tools and features needed to streamline decision-making, promote collaboration, and drive better outcomes for businesses.

Feel free to reach out to us today to learn more about how Colloq can support your organization and join our beta community!