Many people believe that there are two types of decision-making. The first is the classic approach which is calls for a precise defining of the decision, developing a number of options and then carefully considering each approach and then deciding on the right decision. This approach has many apparent benefits–it is rational, people believe it is objective, unemotional and there is a formal process. The facts will decide which way to go. Detractors of this approach might point to the fact that it is timely and assumes that you know the outcome of every possibility.
The other approach is to use your intuition to make decisions. Using this style a person can make decisions based on their experience and judgment. It is usually quick, decisive and can be creative. Some people might argue that it can be wrong, it is difficult to teach and it is an internal process that is hard to substantiate.
But can you have both? Can you have quickness with structure? Can you have rigor as well as relying on unconscious processes? It is my experience that you can have the best of both worlds. My creation of Speed Thinking enables people to create ideas, solutions or decision options at lightning speed (i.e. nine in two minutes) but because of its four stage process (i.e. start, evaluate, build and action) the better ideas can rise to the top through an iterative process. What’s more it can be learned and taught to others.
In a time-poor, fast-moving world, individuals and leaders have to make timely decisions. The adage, time is money is a perfect description of this new world. But it requires a new way of thinking, deciding and acting–one that can synergistically combine two previously opposing ways of thinking. Speed Thinking is one such way.
We all believe that to make a good decision you need to take your time, carefully create and consider all the options and then make a final choice. This is what many people consider the ideal decision-making process. Yet in the real world when:
- Time is short
- Perfect information is not available
- You do not know the full impact of your possible decisions and/or
- And you do not know what your competitors might do.
Then is spending more and more time on a decision a smart and effective thing to do?
My experience is that it is not particularly for day-to-day decisions. In these circumstances when tine is short and the implications of a decision are not far-reaching and the risk is relatively low than you are much better off making a quick decision (what’s more if it does not work out as you intended than you can quickly make another one).
But how can you improve your chances of success? Here where an intention to make a decision and practicing making decisions is important. But often this is not enough. You will need a range of decision-making tools. I have listed one of these below:
The tool is called My Heroes:
Step 1. In the next two minutes list nine heroes of yours. These could be your dad or President Obama etc.
Step 2: Then select one of these at random and think about the decision in front of you. What decision would your hero make in these circumstances?
Step 3: Select another hero and repeat the process. Remember to really become that person.
Step 4: Keep repeating this exercise until you feel ready to make a decision. Often there is a consensus among your heroes on what to do.
Using this decision-making tool you will great enhance your chances of making a good decision in minutes.
This is a note for all managers, leaders or business owners who are faced with a big decision. It is inspired by a recent article I read about Kevin Roberts who is the Global Chief Executive of the ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi (Australian Financial Review 18/5/09, pg 43).
Kevin has a three day rule for his key managers:
Any manager that has a key problem must get it to him within 24 hours.
He guarantees to make a decision within 24 hours then they have 24 hours to execute the solution.
Kevin observes that this three day rule, ‘gives our people a great sense of liberation and a sense of massive speed.’
There are many things to admire about this concept. In a time-poor, speed driven world, important decisions can be made quickly. Particularly in a service business there can be no bottle necks. It is also a very effective way of having the CEO to stay involved in the pulse of the business and cut-through the many layers between the client and the CEO.
My only problem with this approach is that it is very Kevin Roberts centric. What is Kevin gets run over by a bus or moves on. I think it is better to build an organizational-wide, speed-decision capability rather than it revolving around one key individual.
What do you think?
Ken Hudson
Hint: If you cannot answer this question quickly then perhaps you do. You might be one of the estimated 20% of adults who consider themselves as chronic procrastinators. This continual delaying of decision-making can sometimes lead to detrimental impacts in our business and personal lives. But let’s face it–we all procrastinate at one time or another in our lives. But why do we do it?
Here are some common reasons:
- We seek perfection e.g. we need every bit of information before making a decision
– We would rather dream than do anything
– We constantly worry about the results of our decision (hence it is better not to make a decision at all)
– Sometimes we just need a deadline or crisis to make a decision – We are just do not care either way about the decision or the decision options are virtually the same
– Because we need to micro-manage every decision we end up not making a decision at all (as we have too many to make).
Perhaps in some cases it might be for a very good reason, you might be waiting for some new information but most of us would benefit from becoming a more confident decision maker.
Here are 4 ways to break-out of the procrastination cycle
1. Use the 80:20 rule — decide what are the 20% of decisions that impact on the 80% of your life (e.g. what meetings should I attend this week, how many hours will I work today). Now make a quick decision on these only. By focusing on the few important decisions you won’t feel overwhelmed and you will make better decisions.
2. List nine pros and then nine cons of any decision. Do both in two minutes then make a final decision?
3. Similar to the above process but in this case list the nine rational elements of a decision (e.g. in considering a new job–a rational consideration might be the pay level) and the nine emotional factors (e.g. what if i fail?) then make a decision. Remember to do these quickly so you do not filter.
4. Escape thinking about any decision as being right or wrong. You will never know in advance and you can tie yourself up in knots. It is better to think about it as does this decision keep things moving or will it improve my learning or does this move the business along? By thinking along this dimension then you will be more able to actually make a decision and sleep better afterwards.
Keep deciding!
Dr Ken Hudson.
Our youngest daughter wanted to play competitive soccer this year after playing a shortened version of the game at school. Like any good parents, we encouraged her to give it a go. This all sounded fine and i left for a business trip to
I have not coached before but did play soccer for many years at a reasonable level. After one training session our first opponent was an A grade team that had been together for three years. As you can imagine this is a daunting assignment at the best of times but as a coach i faced a number of other small mountains:
- One of the kids dropped out an hour before the game leaving us with the basic 11 players
- Our new goal keeper after letting in a few goals burst into tears and was last seen out of her goal heading off with her mum never to be seen again.
- Our star striker had a tennis grand final to go to which left us with nine players.
At half-time we were down six nil. As a coach you have five minutes to try and rally the girls, parents and yourself that all is not lost and develop plan ‘C’ (plan B had gone out the window with the disappearing goal keeper). After a moment of panic i totally rearranged the team, strengthened our defense, found a new keeper and with nine players we lost the second half three nil.
To their great credit our girls never stopped trying and ten minutes after the game had already moved on (parents and coaches it seems take a little longer).
This experience no doubt, is repeated in thousands of sporting fields around the country. Decisions need to be made instantly, the environment changes rapidly, the competition reacts and all this happens in a blink of an eye. Yet coaches and managers of all shapes and sizes can make literally hundreds of decisions throughout a game without resorting to decision trees, cost benefit analysis or forming a committee. Can we learn something from being a soccer coach that we use in the rest of our lives?
Being a coach is one of the best things you can do as a parent and it might just teach us all how to be more confident, decisive decision-makers and it can be incredibly rewarding.
Ken Hudson
Ever since the Greeks were the head honchos we have believed that effective decision making was rationale process. You methodically gather all the information, carefully weigh up the options and make an objective, rational decision. Emotions were to be avoided at all costs because these might muddy up our thinking.
Trouble is, what we believe and what we do, are completely different. Recent brain research suggests that reason alone is not a good way to make decisions in a fast-moving, ever-changing environment. Patients that have had some parts of their brain damaged (concerned with their emotions) are simply not able to make up their minds as they descend into an endless loop of pros and cons for each potential option.
To quote from a recent book on the subject by Jonah Lehrer, The Decisive Moment, 2009, Pg. 5;
‘’The simple truth of the matter is that making good decisions requires us to use both sides of the mind. For too long, we’ve treated human nature as an either/or situation. We are either rational or irrational. We either rely on statistics o trust our gut instincts……
Not only are these dichotomies false, they’re destructive.’
Good decision making it seems is a dance between head and heart. There may be situations where a gut instinct decision might be appropriate (e.g. time is short, information is lacking and you have considerable experience). Other times a longer more rational approach is necessary (e.g. where there is one correct answer that will be arrived at through analysis).
For most situations however a combination of head and heart might be the best way to go. You can do this through speed thinking by listing the nine rational elements of a decision in two minutes (e.g. cost, pay back etc). Then you list the nine emotional elements in a decision (e.g. resistance to change, risk involved, fear of failure), again in two minutes. There is no right or wrong in this process. The aim is to simply make the rational and emotional elements explicit. By doing so you can talk to others about these factors and both factors are given equal weight. You then make a decision feeling confident that you have explored both the rational and emotional.
This head and heart decision making tool is an effective way of harnessing the best of both worlds. There is structure, thought, passion and speed. When faced with a difficult decision give it a go. You will become a better, more confident and decisive decision maker.
Ken Hudson
I was interviewed today by a reporter from a HR magazine in
Speed Thinking shares many of the qualities of intuition:
- Both are modes of thought that are quick, In fact, intuition is almost instantaneous -see the book by Malcolm Gladwell (Blink) for example.
- Both rely on more right brain processes. Speed Thinking is more about accessing the unconscious and Intuition the emotions.
- Both benefit through experiential learning (i.e. you get better at both the more experience you have).
- Both modes of thought are often viewed with some suspicion by the more rational business people as somehow compromising quality (yet there is plenty of evidence that people rely on intuition a great deal when making decisions for example).
But there are differences:
- Intuition is more of an internal process, speed thinking an external one.
- Intuition is more individual, speed thinking is both an individual and a group process. It can be used in meetings for example.
- Intuition is typically used by someone who has a particular (often extensive) expertise and experience whereas speed thinking can be used by anyone, any age, in any role with little or no experience.
- Intuition is used for mainly used for decision-making, speed thinking can be used to create new ideas, solve problems and make decisions.
- Intuition is more difficult to teach whereas Speed Thinking (I believe) is more teachable because of its four step process (start, evaluate, build, do), 2 minute-nine possibility mechanic, speed links template and 30 tools etc.
In short, Speed Thinking is a more structured, external, tool-driven process than intuition.
Ken Hudson
In case you have missed it there is a new CEO of Yahoo, Carol Bartz.. She is from all reports a ’straight-shooter’ (The Wall Street Journal, 14/2/09) and her mission is to speed up decision making and get the giant moving again.
She is apparently fond of asking her managers,
‘What would you do if you were me?’.
This is such a good question. It forces managers to actually think for themselves and recommend a new course of action or a decision. This question is a way for the new CEO to send a message that she is open to the ideas of others.
And it is a wonderful Speed Thinking way for anyone to make a decision when they feel stuck.
Ask yourself: What would my boss do in this situation? Or If it was my money what would i do?
The answer usually becomes obvious immediately.
Ken Hudson.
Much of the conversation today in the business press is naturally concerned with the downturn in the economy and specifically how Generation will cope. Long-painted as being too self-centered, disloyal and having unrealistic expectations, it is felt by some that this recession will somehow whip them into shape so they will become like the rest of us (i am a boomer).
But is this the case? I would like to mount an argument that they are smarter and certainly faster than all the proceeding generations and as a result are better placed to thrive in a broadband paced world.
Generation Y:
- Is better educated
- Understand that having a life outside of work is important
- Realize that what you do at the moment does not define who you are
- Want to travel
- Are connected to people from all over the world
- Are exposed to greater diversity
- Perhaps are more innovative and entrepreneurial?
- Can access information, respond and make decisions at lightning speed without agonizing or second guessing themselves
- Like other Speed Thinkers around the world they want to be judged on output rather than hours spent at the office and
- Would like to be appreciated for their contribution
In summary, because of their command of technology, their comfort with a fast-moving and changing environment , their openness to new ideas and their ease in working with others, it seems to me that Generation Y are better placed than all of us.
It is the rest of us that can learn from them rather than asking Generation Y to change to a world which does not exist anymore.
Ken Hudson
I just read some of Bob Rotella’s work on improving your golf through his emphasis on mental training. As Bob suggests, ‘guys (on the professional golf tour) have swing, strength and flexibility coaches–the mind needs practice too.’
Bob Rotella has a PHD in sports psychology and is working with some of the biggest names in professional golf (Tiger Woods excluded). His aim is to help normal people become exceptional.
What i find interesting is that many of his ideas resonate with what i am trying to do with Speed Thinking. His theory is that to stop people choking and to improve their golf performance they should turn off their critical, conscious mind and turn on their more intuitive and instinctual unconscious brain. This is exactly the idea behind speed thinking–people are too busy just doing to listen or pay attention to their often critical, internal voice.
Now, granted the golf course is different from the corporate arena but it seems to me that anyone interested in improving their and others performance should look for what others are doing wherever they find it. And in the future the biggest improvements will be on the mental side, as The British Open winner Padraig Harrington suggests, ‘I think that 95% of this game is mental.’
I would recommend Bob’s books, particularly, ‘Golf is not a game of perfect’. This title suggests that golf (like business) and life generally is a game of mistakes, learning and self-acceptance. Yet so many people seem to spend all their time analyzing and trying to develop the perfect solution. In a fast-moving environment, actually doing something or making a decision, then learning from what happens is a much better response than searching for the best idea, solution or decision.
Ken Hudson.
