Definition of decision making
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On our definition of decision making page you will find an effective definition, a decision making team activity and how DISC affects decision making Page contents
The dictionary definition is - noun: the action or process of making important decisions. "the system encourages workers' participation in corporate decision-making" So that’s it – the definition of decision making! Not very helpful. |
Our Definition of Decision Making
Our leadership and management specialist came up with the following
"Decision making is a structured process a team member goes through which is made easier by increasing their own knowledge and confidence in, firstly, their own ability, and secondly, that the work environment is a safe and supportive environment." (Adrian Close)
…and we asked him to explain.
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Hi, I do deliver a decision making course (which is also for sale) and use the above definition of decision making as the core to everything we discuss, learn and witness during the session. The course kicks off with a fantastic activity where the team have to make decisions and carry out their plan. When we move to a structured process,we can refer back to the issues during the activity an explain how having a structure would have helped. Another key to the definition of decision making above is increasing knowledge. Team members need to learn more about their role and other team members role. This will make decision making easier with respect to how that decision will affect others within the company. This learning is not just from training course, it’s gained by shadowing team members (not just during an induction), reading literature, on-line forums, team meetings and “water cooler” chats. The final part of my definition of decision making above is the work environment is a safe and supportive environment.This is down to effective leadership and coaching skills and it’s vital for the progression of the company and the team. How can a company be innovative if the first response, to a team member’s mistake or failure, from the managers and team leaders, is disciplinary or a capability file stored on record? Team members have to be given the room to make a mistake in a safe and supportive environment. And, before you shout at the screen, I’m not talking about a mistake in A&E, most of us don’t work in that environment. |
 Just £24.99 |
Incidentally – Only 30% of managers know what coaching means, which is very scary for the future of a lot of companies!
So those are the three elements to my definition of decision making:
- Follow a structure like we discuss during our decision making course
- Increased knowledge of the job role and others within the company
- Managers and leaders to develop an area where team members feel safe to fail
Obviously we don’t want our team members to fail which is why we need to check in from time to time. This isn’t micro-management, is support!
DISC and Decision Making
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If you haven’t come across DISC before, it’s a psychometric test which team members can complete to find out which behavioural quadrant they predominantly lie in. DISC stand for – Dominance, Influential, Steady, Compliance. There are other tests you can do like Myer’s Briggs, one with colours and one with animals? But for us DISC is the easiest to understand for all team members. Team members with D and I in their profile find it easier to make decisions. D’s will just decide and do it, I’s will do the same, but they will also let everyone know that they’ve done it. |
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Team members with S and C in the profile find it a little uncomfortable to make fast decisions. S’s will want to include more people and the C’s will want all the information and go over it several times. Incidentally – On paper the D’s and S’s don’t get on and neither do the I’s and C’s. So, if you’ve ever wondered why some make decision making look easy this is one of the reasons why. Here’s a form for you to complete, if you need any help don’t hesitate to drop us a line. |
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Thanks for visiting our definition of decision making page, here's a link to our homepage. The book recommendation for the decision making course we offer is the One Minute Manager - here's a link
As well as lots of smaller businesses and organisations, below are examples of some larger organisations who have received training from our director of learning at Ultimate Leadership Training:
Please contact us to discuss any training requirements you have, we either deliver for you or sell you the course for your trainers to deliver to your team