Innerdecisionindex

A decision is a plan to change something in your current situation, and decision has lots of connotations of finality.

The decision is about the future, and the future is full of uncertainty and ambiguity; Decision-making is difficult due to varying reasons such as uncertainty of business circumstances, fear of failures, unsure about priority, unconscious bias, lack of knowledge or profound thinking process, etc. 

There is fuzziness in the decision because there is fuzziness in conflicting criteria, there are various parameters in the art and science of decision-making.

Critical thinking: There’s knowing unknown, there’s unknowing unknown, people all have some blind spots in blocking the way to decision effectiveness due to unconscious bias, knowledge deficiency, process inefficiency, etc. It’s important to leverage critical thinking for making sound judgment by listening to or looking at; understanding through asking the right questions, and responding to what needs to be said or done. As a matter of fact, true critical thinking and constructive criticism are very important for improving the decision effectiveness of the business.

You need to be good at independent thinking, without following conventional wisdom or others' thoughts blindly, continue learning and updating knowledge, and shape your own thoughts and opinions. To come up with innovative solutions, think out of the box, and make decisions in an intelligent manner. Real critical thinking has creativity embedded in it. Creativeness derives from one's ability to let go of assumptions and stigmas we place on objects, ideas, function, practice how to perceive things differently and how things are usually understood or solved.

Knowledge: In business context, digital organization is an interdependent and information based system with the ability to continually change as the world changes and evolves with an intersecting and interacting business ecosystem seamlessly. In the human context, information drives awareness, which can include all of these characteristics, uncertainty, surprise, difficulty, and entropy, although it can also trigger a sense of confidence, confirmation, validation, verification. Thus, the decision-maker must have interdisciplinary knowledge to make their decisions rich in information and improve decision effectiveness.

Keep in mind, the information quality matters. With the overwhelming growth of data, no single source of information is sufficient to make fact-based decisions effectively. Good decision makers are egoless; they recognize a gap in the knowledge they have and value in closing the gap; they are willingness to acquire additional information begins with acceptance you do not know enough to achieve your purpose;

Logic: Decisions to deal with over-complexity of many business problems are tough; logic is the ability for examining inference via analyzing, evaluating, and producing coherent argumentation, finding common ground and initiating dialogues to understand situations from different angles, and make objective judgment. In reality, people may have varying experiences, but they do not know how to apply nonlinear logic to clarify the circumstances; weighing different parameters to make good decisions.

To handle “VUCA” new normal, there are multiple, inter-related dynamics that you have to really dig beneath the superficial layer. Analytics-synthesis are the two ends of the line between understanding the parts and understanding the whole, very different, but also complementary, equally and inextricably linked to the process of understanding. Collaboratively, the logical decision-making process includes understanding the need, engaging key stakeholders, ensuring effective communication, assessing alternatives, developing consensus, planning, and applying multifaceted logic to make effective decisions.

Intuition: Statistically, the majority of normal humans make their decision based on intuition. We do whatever analysis we can. Then intuition helps us take the final, ambiguous step required for making a choice in tough decision making. But if you are in an unfamiliar setting would you step back and look for facts and factors and try to create or consider more alternatives before deciding? People rely on their gut if they are trained or experienced, first responses don't have time to weigh all the factors in a decision and are trained to make fast decisions.

Confidence in gut feel is a psychological sense of certainty in the face of unquantified uncertainty. One has to be too deeply inclined, and sensitive, to listen to this subtlest sound of silence. Gut feelings can override logical analysis quite rightly sometimes. An informed gut feeling is more likely to be working with more information and possibly even relevant and accurate information, and could, therefore, eliminate some poor choices.

Emotional excellence: Emotional Intelligence is the ability to identify and manage your emotions, this is particularly critical in making strategic decisions which significantly impacts on critical problem-solving. Without the inner balance of energies, one cannot achieve a perfect balance of emotions and logic for analyzing situations objectively and dispassionately in order to make effective decisions.

Decision power is a mind power, it guides through what to select from available choices, how to accommodate constraints, how to identify bias, how to avoid distractions, and where to show firmness and flexibility. The importance of emotional excellence gets prominence as seniority increases, working with people, making strategic decisions effectively, and getting more complicated tasks done smoothly. Only a balanced mind with high emotional intelligence can keep their sensitivity intact, take the tough decision and make better choices consistently.

Decision-making is both science and art. A decision is a plan to change something in your current situation, and a decision has lots of connotations of finality. Decision-making is not an event, but a professional capability underpinned by quality information, a series of interrelated processes or steps, strong logic, the right dose of gut feelings to solve problems seamlessly.

Posted in: Decision Making,Thinkingaire