FountainBlue's June 6 Front Line Managers Online program was on the topic of 'Decision-Making Best Practices'. Please join me in thanking our panelists.
as a Product Leader - Prajakta Naik
as a Marketing Leader - Vidya Venkatesh
as a People Leader, Tammy Sanders, Lam Research
Our panelists this month represented a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives, but each had deep experience making decisions. Below is a compilation of their best practices:
Listen to the Voice of the Customer.
Whether your customer is within the organization or outside the organization, the customer will define what the problem is, specifically, and what success looks like, so stay aligned with what they need and how they define success.
Create the Guardrails and Perspectives to Structure the Decision-Making Process.
Align your decisions to corporate requirements, goals, values and mission, as well as customer requirements, workforce and financial resource availability and operational capabilities.
Step into a Leadership Role to Facilitate the Decision-Making Process.
Be accountable and responsible.
Be credible and reliable.
Be empathetic and empowering.
Communicate with transparency and integrity and hold others to the same standard.
Be the leader worth following, representing the needs of all, no matter where you sit in the org chart.
Leverage Program Management Skills to Deliver Results.
Invite feedback and input from a wide range of stakeholders throughout the decision-making process.
Prioritize competing projects based on predefined criteria, as agreed by a broad swath of stakeholders.
Communicate progress toward measured goals.
Proactively manage people and financial resources.
Below is a list of decision-making tools which may be useful:
Highlight a Decision Making Diagram / Decision Tree to map out decision alternatives, outcomes, and probabilities.
Make a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) diagram to spell out each element impacting the decision.
Create a Force Field Analysis to identify the driving and restraining forces for a particular decision or change.
Use a Decision Matrix to evaluate and prioritize a list of options based on predetermined weighted criteria, as agreed by a broad range of stakeholders.
Design a Pareto Analysis Rubric to identify the most significant factors (the weighting) contributing to a problem and to ensure everyone is aligned on the parameters for an upcoming decision.
Use MVPs and prototypes to help you frame an upcoming decision about a proposed feature
Focus on a Problem Clarity strategy with proof points for why a decision should be made and have an end goal in mind.
Use an Elimination Model to help dismiss decision options which don’t align with corporate values, resources, workforce capabilities, process obligations, etc.,
Below is additional feedback and input on the decision-making process:
It doesn’t have to be a good decision each time, every time. Focus on failing fast, failing forward rather than always being right, but always learn from past failures.
Influence stakeholders appropriately and with integrity - good intentions, appropriate data.
Beware of the data – work with trustworthy people to ask the right questions and to provide the appropriate data to make a unbiased decision.
Have the integrity to present information neutrally.
Break the ‘we’ve always done things this way’ excuses, because it’s blocking the decisions which could bring positive change to the internal and external customers.
Consider the timing for a decision.
Include and empower the stakeholders to help make the right decisions for all parties.
Engage the next generation, open the door and ask how things can be done differently.
Commit to a decision and follow through.
Decide when to update a prior decision.
When you’re talking to stakeholders and ideas go above and beyond, refocus to the projects in front of you, urgently needed now, while not squashing the big picture discussion.
The decisions we make today help define the realities we face tomorrow, so it's our hope that you've found some kernels of wisdom in the learnings we've gathered from this month's inspiring panelists!