Decision Excellence - decision making in management on a new level
Decision Excellence - a criterion for success
Excellence in an economic context means being better than the competition.
Not always and at all times, but in the medium to long term.
As an excellent organisation, you are ahead on average, thus achieving better results than the competition.
The essential basis for excellence is a high quality of management decisions - your accuracy in decisions is ahead of the others, besides you implement effectively.
The idea of decision excellence has been with me for a number of years; in my corporate career I led or managed excellence programmes. We were ahead of the competition, we were excellent in many areas.
What is the reality in many companies?
Studies and surveys (for example by McKinsey and the Economist Intelligence Unit) have shown that:
- only 28% of the executives surveyed describe their company's strategic decisions as good;
- for the majority of corporate decisions, intuition plays a stronger role in judgement than data and facts;
- most executives believe their employees use mostly readily available information.
These are indications that there is great potential in companies when it comes to decision making in management. Focusing on making better decisions is an essential element in achieving excellence and keeping it.
Where do you stand - how good are your organisation's decisions?
Decision making in management - when to take action?
You may hear statements in the company like:
- We have made serious wrong decisions on important issues.
- There are perfect descriptions of the decision-making processes - but no one keeps to them
- The same mistakes happen again and again - we don't understand why
- Not everyone in the company is on board with the decisions.
- Our decisions are too centralised, we lack a connection to reality.
- Our perspective is too narrow, we lack a view of the big picture
- We decide too slowly, the market needs quick answers
These are indications that there is a need for action in management decisions.
But where exactly?
If you have to make a decision and you don't make it, that's a decision too. - William James
Making better decisions - the central theme of Mind your business
Deciding consciously is central to the philosophy of Mind your business.
- Your current status and your company value are the result of previous decisions.
- Your decisions are a more or less good response to external influencing factors.
- Organisations differ from others by their decisions, both positive and negative.
- Excellent decision making in management needs the right framework and process for your environment.
- Decision-making processes in organisations may be perfectly & logically designed, but in practice may be systematically distorted by unconscious biases.
Better decision making - this is a goal I have continuously pursued in large organisations and positively contributed to its achievement - as part of leadership teams, as a person responsible for decision-making processes in companies or as a project manager of complex improvement initiatives. An excerpt of various projects on the topic of excellence:
- Market Driven Decision Excellence
- KPI Excellence
- Commercial Excellence
- Performance Management Excellence
- S&OP Excellence
I now offer my years of practical experience of decision-making processes in companies to those organisations that strive for excellence.
Decisions are the element that organisations can most actively shape - making better decisions is directly related to the achievement of your organisation's goals!
The essential aspect: you decide how you decide.
Mind your business enables you to become excellent in decision making!
Why it makes sense to take a closer look at decision making in management - for you too.
Why does it pay off to invest in the quality of decision-making - what is the business case?
Often there are already structures for decision making in management - for example, it is defined who decides on which topics (governance):
- who decides on which issues (governance),
- with whom the decision is made (for example, alone or in committees),
- the process by which information is shared (process descriptions),
- according to which criteria decisions are made (business case content), or
- how the success of the decisions made is measured.
Organisations can have all these elements implemented and still be far from excellence.
Your performance management system should give you a clear picture of where you stand (if not, Mind your your business will be happy to support you - see the Controlling & Finance section for more details).
For example:
- what percentage of your investment projects are on time & on budget?
- how do your sales prices compare to those of your competitors? or
- how does your staff turnover compare to the industry average?
Your business case is the step from average to good, from good to very good or from very good to excellent - these steps can have enormous financial benefits.
The management consultancy McKinsey has found that the quality of decision-making processes in companies has a significantly stronger leverage on company performance than mere analysis - by a factor of 6!
Do you know which management decisions have the greatest business case?
Decision-making processes in companies - massively distorted by unconscious biases
Unconscious biases (= cognitive distortions or errors in thinking) are often behind bad decisions. A study by the University of Giessen showed that
- 72% of those surveyed attributed past bad decisions in part to biases,
- 90% of respondents see biases as a factor of negative consequences for their company, but only
- 12% of the respondents have systematically implemented countermeasures (= de-biasing) in their decision-making processes.
This means that decision-making processes in companies must take into account the specific effective biases.
De-biasing is an essential factor for excellence in management decisions - also for you!
Decision Excellence - 5 steps and 5 modules for better decisions
Mind your business offers you modular support to enable you to make the quality of management decisions you are aiming for.
If something already works well - perfect! We do not want to solve a problem that does not exist.
To become decisively better is the common goal to realise your potentials.
Our excellence project typically involves the following 5 steps:
- Define: Determining the scope of the project, resources as well as time based on your challenges or symptoms.
- Understand: Providing clarity and facts through analysis, and alongside this, mirroring the internal perception of the organisation
- Solve: Create, discuss and prioritise options for action and then define ways and means to achieve better decisions.
- Anchor: Define success criteria and responsibilities in the organisation and start communication.
- Implement: Realise, measure and control agreed steps and learn from the results.
In addition to the responsibilities in the project, we also agree which of the following 5 modules will be used.
Module 1: Decision Scan - where do we stand?
Contents:
- Quality of decisions assessed
- Analysis of error patterns
- Severity matrix - effects of wrong decisions
We focus on your starting position and the consequences of the current decision quality.
Module 2: Meeting Observer - how do we decide?
Contents:
- Decision making process, preparation and follow-up
- Meeting effectiveness
- Implementation of decisions
You get the external expert perspective on your meetings and your decision-making.
Module 3: Process Scan - where are key weaknesses?
Contents:
- Analysis of processes
- Incentive check on conflicting incentives
- Process effectiveness
You will receive an analysis of the agreed decision-making processes and possible misalignments in your processes.
Module 4: Bias audit - which unconscious biases are relevant?
Contents:
- Connects to previous modules with focus on key levers
- Bias identification in selected areas
- Identification of de-biasing options
You will receive an expert analysis of which biases are relevant and concrete options to reduce them.
Module 5: Process Upgrade - how can we make better decisions?
Contents:
- Selection of concrete measures for better decision-making processes
- Design of goals and content
- Implementation plan
We develop a set of specific measures for your organisation and prepare the implementation.
Business coaching, business sparring & workshops as further options.
Contents:
- Support on the personal level
- Support for central teams during implementation
- Option to involve further partners
You will receive professional support from managers, teams or key individuals as required.
Get the right expertise for excellence in management decision-making.
Put focus on your key decision-making processes in the company - they make the difference!
Find out more details about the "Decision Excellence" offer and feel free to contact me with any questions or further suggestions.
Let's clarify in a free and non-binding conversation which decisions have the greatest impact for you. These need to be improved on an ongoing basis.
Decision Excellence as a continuous process
Improving the quality of decision-making and the corresponding competencies of an organisation is an ongoing process. It needs focus, expertise and ongoing calibration.
For this reason, Mind your business offers corporate partnerships - also on the topic of decision-making. Learn more about corporate partnerships.
The number of these partnerships is limited to ensure sufficient focus!
Make a first decision and contact me!
Markus has consistently demonstrated a great ability to coordinate, handle and leverage the multiple strong personalities surrounding him, making sure that the group energy was always conveyed toward reaching ambitious goals
Andrea Baldini – Head of Pricing