The Decision Maker has been designed for anyone who has to make business decisions, be it in the private sector or the public sector, in organisations small or large. Whether you are the CEO, the owner, a director, a manager or a team leader, this set of tools is for you.
This set of tools will also be useful to anybody who has an interest in designing, reviewing or reengineering business processes.
By using the tools provided here, you will be able to assess your present and likely future circumstances, determine what will provide the greatest benefit for your business and then make the decisions needed to make it happen. You will also be able to evaluate what impact your decisions are having and to take corrective steps if things don't turn out as you would have liked.
Unlike the cartoon below, what you will learn here is not all that difficult to understand and to apply. However, as is the case with this famous equation, there is a lot of power that I can help you to unleash - to the benefit of those who benefit from what your organisation does.
So, read on and, when you are ready, put The Decision Maker to good use.
How it all works
The diagram below (Figure 1) shows how The Decision Maker works. First, you need to know where you want your business or organisation (or team) to go. What is your vision or to use alternative phrases: what is your strategic intent? What are your business objectives? Where do you see your business in a year or two?
Then, you need to how you want to get there. You may have a business plan or a project plan or an idea of the means you want or need to use to achieve your objectives. If you do not have a business plan, you may just want to jot down - in the notes section at the back of this booklet - the five principal means you intend to use to achieve your objectives.
Figure 1: the decision-making model
The Strategic Navigation Model (Figure 3) is discussed and explained a bit later: it is the principal tool you will use to make the best decisions for your business or organisation.
We will then provide you with criteria to help you choose between competing options and, lastly, we will provide you with the means to constantly improve your decision-making, including a suggested reading list.
Let's start from the beginning, by discussing the art of decision-making, as it must be practiced in a changing, confusing and complex world.
This is a world where there are more charlatans than there are helpful ideas, more fake gurus than there are real leaders, more fads than there are lasting truths. Let's start to sort out the wheat from the chaff.
INTRODUCTION
There is no shortage of management “solutions” at present. The “solutions” are never cheap and they are never easy to implement. You have all heard of all or most or these and if you haven't, you will!
This is not an exhaustive list, but it will give you an idea of what is around:
- partnering
- the “learning organisation”
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- accrual accounting
- risk management
- contestability
- outsourcing
- various leadership models
- Investors in People
- the seven (or eight or ten) principles of management/leadership/effectiveness/whatever….
- information mapping
- quality frameworks
- continuous improvement; and
- business process reengineering
Any of these familiar to you? I am sure you could add to the list, couldn't you?
How do you decide which of these things would be good for you, your business or your organisation? How do you decide whether any things are any good to you at all? Do you try each one and see how you go, wasting time and money in the process? Do you avoid them all, possibly missing great opportunities? Do you bounce from one fad to another, confusing staff and customers or clients alike?
The challenge is to design a framework that will enable you to assess the areas of management or business improvement that will contribute most to performance over the next several years. This is what The Decision Makertrong is all about.
THE APPROACH
The value of a “solution” should be determined by the extent that it addresses key weaknesses (i.e. real problems) without undermining existing strengths, (or the extent to which it provides substantial improvements to existing strengths). Neither you nor your business can afford to put effort and resources into activities that fail this broad test.
The test is simple, see Figure 2, below, at a very high or general level.
Figure 2: testing possible solutions
At this general level, the issues are:
- what are the key areas in which the business/organisation must excel?
- in each of those areas, is the business/organisation relatively weak or strong?
- how can the current position of the business/organisation be established?
- how can solutions be assessed and chosen?
