I had an interesting experience today. I had gone to visit some good friends in Atlanta, Georgia, and was driving back to Kentucky, which was a six and a half hour drive. I entered the route into the GPS and followed the voice instructions till I came about half an hour away from Kentucky. The route began to veer into country roads which kept getting smaller and smaller. After some time, I began to get worried because I was going through wooded areas just wide enough for one car to go through. I realized that in my GPS settings, I had put 'the shortest route' instead of 'the fastest route'. So the route took me through all these old country roads to get me back to Kentucky. But as it got even more winding and smaller, I began to get really worried, especially when I came to a little stream. There didn't seem to be any road and I was stuck there. It had been raining very heavily and the road was submerged. I was unsure. So I got out of the car to take a decision whether to move forward or reverse somehow (there wasn't enough room for that), when a car pulled up behind me. I asked for help and the guy told me I could go through but just to be sure that I kept to the right. So with my heart in my mouth, I drove gingerly across this stream and was happy to get onto firmer ground again.
When I finally got back home, I began to think about the whole area of making decisions. I was faced with a decision whether to move forward or go back. I dithered for a while and then finally decided, with collaboration from another person, to move forward. For me it was a very courageous decision. I was reminded of a Peter Drukker quote that said, "Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision." I wasn't making a courageous decision on a business, but it was just to get me home.
But it got me thinking about how we make decisions in life. All of you on this call make decisions through the day – important ones, far-reaching ones, ones that have great consequences. It often begs the question: "Do we have a process in place to make them or is it just instinctive?"
Glenn Llopis writes in one of his articles, "The most successful leaders are instinctual decision makers. Senior executives depend a lot on gut-feel." And yet, it's more than that. Gut-feel or instinctive decisions are made on a lot of data that has been processed, which ultimately boils down to give you the information you need.
So I began to pursue this and thought that it would be good to talk to you about decision-making. I came across this article in Mind Tools. I just want to say as an aside: I quote many articles on the web and if you don't get the names, please go to our website, corporatecapsules.com. They are annotated at the bottom of the article. You could read the articles. In Mind Tools, they say that there is a six-step process in decision-making.
1. Establishing a positive decision-making environment.
2. Generating potential solutions - looking at all the solutions that can be used in this particular area.
3. Evaluating the solutions.
4. Deciding.
5. Checking the decision – going over and seeing if it is the right one to do.
6. Communicating and implementing the decision.
These six steps and they sometimes get catapulted into each other – become one decision. But basically, if you break it down, that's how it would play out. But when you make these decisions, often the question that you face is: should I make the decision myself or should I involve others in it? That's a question that's based on the kind of situation that you are facing or the circumstance. Sometimes it is just waste of time and resources to involve other people to make the decision when you can make it. Sometimes you need the involvement of others for implementing that decision and therefore, it would help to get others' input. Or sometimes you need more knowledge from other departments and therefore, that needs to be factored in as well.
I found myself going to three decision-making types that have been written about in leadership books.
1. Autocratic: An autocratic decision-maker is one who just makes it; he asks team members for specific information without revealing why he makes a decision. It's basically 'you'. Nobody is involved in it. You just get information if you need it and then make it. Bill Gates, according to Aastha Dogra writing 'Leadership Styles and Examples', is the classic example of that kind of leadership. Though he has involved others, a lot of his decisions are very autocratic.
2. Consultative: Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of Renault, is one such person. In this, you gather information from the team and others and then, you make the decision. You first talk to team members, either individually to get their opinion, but you never bring them in together. Or you bring the group together, discuss the situation, and then you make the decision.
3. Collaborative: Mahatma Gandhi was a great collaborator. He would get the whole team together and try and reach a consensus. So the team makes the decision; your role is that of a facilitator. You help to keep the team together and see that the decision reached is one that everyone agrees on.
But, I think the key, as you look at these three different styles, is to know when you should use what. I found myself going to this particular page where there is this style, and you've probably looked at when you've looked at organizational development in management. This style is called "The Vroom-Yetton-Jago Decision Model". It helps you find the best process by asking seven questions about the situation and then building a decision tree that is based on these resources. I would encourage you to read this article because it has a lot of material along with a quiz that you can take to find out what is your decision-making style or what kind of process you need to use for a particular situation.
But, sometimes when using the consultative or collaborative style, there needs to be some system in place to regulate ideas. When you throw it out to a group, it can sometimes get out of hand. I found a book by Edward de Bono called "Six Thinking Hats", where he gives you a model of how to get the best out of a group discussion. He says, "There are six hats that people wear:
· White Hat: People who wear this look at all the information. They gather as much as possible and they are responsible for giving that information.
· Red Hat: These people will only look for problems.
· Black Hat: They will find out areas where things will not work.
· Yellow Hat: Helps you to think positively, continue to push your agenda through.
· Green Hat: thinks creatively. There's no criticism. He/she is able to throw out ideas.
· Blue Hat: This is for the one who chairs the meeting or controls it.
All this says, that decision-making is not easy. While it may be instinctive, underneath it's like an iceberg – huge below. There are so many processes taking place. but it's also available to you if you want to go in and see these different tools that can be used in decision-making if you should run into a problem and wonder which style to use.
So, just to set you thinking - on how to make a good decision, a courageous decision, an intuitive one, an instinctive one, which style to use. I hope and pray that you will be able to use the right one. Just a word as a postscript. In our Holy Book, God says, "And your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,' whenever you turn to the right or to the left." I love that because in a time of decision-making, it is always good to lean on God's wisdom to make those decisions and I hope and pray that you will do that today.
Let me pray with you. Almighty God, bless each person on this call. Help each one to make wise decisions, know when to use what style, in which situations to be able to us a particular way of deciding, whether it's collaborative or consultative or authoritative. I pray that Your wisdom would lead each one to make the right decision. Thank You that You are available to us. I pray a blessing on this group in the name of Jesus. Amen
• Glen Llopis, "The Most Successful Leaders do 15 Things Automatically, Every Day. http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2013/02/18/the-most-successful-leaders-do-15-things-automatically-every-day/
• "How Good is Your Decision Making? http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_79.htm
• "Decision Making Skills--Start Here." http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_00.htm#Step1
• "The Vroom-Yetton-Jago Decision Model," http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_91.htm
• Quote on Bill Gates taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarian_leadership_style
• Quote on Carlos Ghosn & Mahatma Gandhi taken from: http://www.slideshare.net/chintu83/leadership-styles-with-examples
• Edward de Bono, "Six Thinking Hats," http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_07.htm
• Scripture reference, Isaiah 30:21
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