New York Wants to Bring More Transparency to Algorithm Decisions
The New York City Council wants to clear up suspicion and bring more transparency to decisions made by algorithms.
Association Decision Making: A Path to Better Decisions
It͛s not easy to make clear decisions at an association: Rational thought often contends with risk-averse stakeholders, bad data, perfectionism, an itchiness to make any decision (even a bad one), and other roadblock.
New Budget, Same Problems: How to Avoid Common Budget Formulation Pitfalls
In today’s high-paced world, absolutely nothing replaces having the right information at the right time to make the best decisions. Unfortunately, many leaders are too busy with the challenges of formulating, tracking and reporting budgets, instead of tackling strategic improvements.
World’s First AI Citizen in Saudi Arabia Is Now Calling For Women’s Rights
When the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia granted a citizenship to Hanson Robotics’ female-looking robot Sophia, most thought it was just to appeal to the audience of the Future Investment Initiative. However, AI ethicist Joanna Bryson told The Verge the stunt was “obviously bullshit.”
How to Drive Effective Strategy at Fintech Companies
What does not get measured seldom gets managed. It’s time that attention is paid to making the strategy measurable, and this is where the effectiveness of execution comes into play.
Debias for Better Innovation
Everyone thinks that they are less biased than their peers. This susceptibility to the bias blind spot appears to be pervasive, and is unrelated to people’s intelligence, self-esteem, and actual ability to make unbiased judgments and decisions.
A Christmas Story: The Leg Lamp and Group Decision-Making
Since the 70s, group decision support solutions have been delivered to clients much like the delivery man rolling the wooden crate into Mr. Parker’s living room. They have typically been packaged and sold under the premise that the client’s “problem” is solved once the product has been delivered. The value proposition has been to lead clients to believe that they will be able to save huge amounts of money by replacing their consultants with the software, and that the software is not just a part of the solution, but rather, the entire solution. The misconception that has been perpetuated is that as long as a few people are using the software after the sale has been made, lasting change will somehow miraculously occur.
FRAGILE (FRA-GEE-LAY)
As Mr. Parker looked at the newly delivered crate, he read the block print on the side and said, “Fra-gee-lay, that must be Italian!” Mrs. Parker responded with, “I think that says fragile, honey.” Mr. Parker, then somewhat dismissively says, “Yeah, oh yeah,” and proceeds to open the crate with the innocence and wonder of a small child opening a present on Christmas morning.
Here again, even good group decision support solutions can be fragile unless they are underpinned with a documented process that captures how decisions will be made, who will make them, and what criteria or thresholds will apply.
In my October blog, “Group Decision Support for Agency Budget Formulation,” we discussed the importance of defining and documenting the decision process. Much like the contents of the wood crate, a good group decision support solution must be “handled with care” to endure. In the business world, this means integrating the software solution into the “as is” business process, and incorporating organizational change management techniques to successfully transform to the “to be” business process.
An Unparalleled Glory
As Mr. Parker worked to pull the contents out of the crate, Mrs. Parker, Ralphie, and Randy watched intently. At first, he pulled out what he thought was a statue of a leg, but quickly reassessed the contents and unveiled the “leg lamp.” He exclaimed, “Oh wow!” and then proceeded to position it in front of the window, much to the dismay of Mrs. Parker (clearly not a group decision). The narrator’s voice (Ralphie as an adult) says: “After the snap of a few sparks, a quick whiff of ozone, the lamp blazed forth in unparalleled glory.” Seeing the leg lamp aglow, Mr. Parker remarked, “It’s indescribably beautiful! It reminds me of the Fourth of July!”
When group decision support solutions are implemented as part of a transformation initiative, the result is also “indescribably beautiful.” The organization becomes unshackled from the dysfunction and debilitating effects of bad decisions, and experiences enormous benefits, to include:
- Process consistency and transparency
- Improved stakeholder engagement
- Increased cross-functional insight
- Faster and better decisions
- Greater consensus and buy-in
- Justifiable decision rationale
- Historical record of decisions
In addition, the business leaders who champion and sponsor the transformation to a group decision support solution will also offset the potential negative impacts of having bad decision support processes and decision deficiencies, as I described in my most recent blog: “The Decision Deficiency: How a Leader Can Suffocate Success.”
Make it a Showcase
After the leg lamp is properly positioned in the window, it quickly becomes a showcase for the neighbors and passersby. Mr. Parker is genuinely excited to display it for all to see. When a neighbor asks, “What is it?” Mr. Parker proudly proclaims that “It’s a lamp! It’s a major award!”
Like Mr. Parker, once you have established a world-class decision support process, why would you not want to share it with your colleagues and friends? Our clients have showcased their group decision support processes to other lines of business so that they can see it in action. If you do so, perhaps your new group decision-making process will become as iconic as the leg lamp in A Christmas Story.
© 2017 Definitive Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved.
John Sammarco has thirty-five years of experience leading, managing, and consulting to top public and private sector organizations, and has over twenty years of experience in facilitating complex group decisions. John founded Definitive Business Solutions in 2003, which provides world-class group decision-making solutions to increase efficiency, boost ROI, and reduce risk associated with business and technology investments. In 2016, John developed Definitive Pro™, which helps groups build consensus and make multi-criteria decisions.
Big Data: Forget Volume and Variety, Focus On Velocity
Data is said to age like wine—meaning the longer it’s kept, the more insights you’ll be able to glean from it. While this may be true for some forms of data, this analogy doesn’t apply to all situations.
How Using a Flexible Team Decision-Making Approach Can Bring Success
When teams are coming up with their operating norms, one of the key areas that is almost always discussed is decision-making. Every team has to make decisions. The really important thing to gain team understanding around is how this team is going to make the decisions it needs to make.
The Decision Deficiency: How a Leader Can Suffocate Success
Today’s leaders are defined by their leadership styles, with executives like Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and Jeff Bezos making headlines nearly every day regarding their innovation, influence, and power. While their management philosophies and beliefs vary greatly, though, they all have one trait in common: They are excellent decision makers.
For some people, decision making is easy and inherent. For others, the undertaking is nearly impossible – provoking inner demons and negative thoughts. In fact, leaders can quickly earn bad reputations due to their decision deficiencies, turning a few poor choices or passed opportunities into lifelong career obstacles.
Decisions are critical to business success; without them, there is no way to stay aligned with your enterprise’s mission, vision, and goals. Thus, when leaders fail to make solid judgments, the effects can be felt throughout your entire organization.
Why is it so hard to make a decision?
A decision deficiency is an underlying issue – or issues – that hinder the decision-making process. Many managers exhibit the same symptoms, like procrastination or impulsiveness, but have completely different underlying problems.
There are many theories about why the decision-making process is so difficult, but in business, decision deficiencies typically fall into five categories:
- I can’t commit. Managers who live life with a trial-and-error mentality often have depression, anxiety, or low self-esteem. They either feel like there is no good option, or they are not capable of choosing correctly.
- I’m overwhelmed. With so much data at our fingertips, the decision-making process can seem insurmountable. However, sometimes, leaders convolute the process themselves by overcomplicating things.
- I don’t know how. Making a decision is like riding a bike. If no one ever taught you how to do it, you can’t just hop on a bike one day and will yourself to ride it. Even the most brilliant minds may have never learned the decision-making process.
- I can’t handle the trade-off. Some leaders have a hard time staying objective when a decision may personally impact them or people that they know. And if they cannot be impartial, their judgments will always be flawed.
- I’m exhausted. The phrases “decision fatigue” and “indecision fatigue” are real. Some managers simply have no mental capacity left to make a decision – especially if their current process involves prolonged, intense debates or never-ending research and analysis.
How can bad decision-making processes impact your organization?
Doing things right is one thing; doing the right things is another. The adverse impacts that result from a poor decision-making process can extend far beyond the decisions themselves, choking the life out of an organization.
Decision deficiencies can:
- Ruin morale. If employees believe that their ideas are not fairly evaluated, they will begin to feel disconnected with the mission and vision.
- Create stagnation. Without morale, new ideas and suggestions to improve the organization, its products, or its services will cease to exist.
- Instigate a perception of bias and cronyism. If a leader seems to favor one person’s opinion over another, negativity will spread across the organization like a cancer.
- Crush productivity. When employees stop caring, it shows. Sick days will go up, and output will go down.
- Push human capital away. Eventually, attrition rates will increase, and knowledge will just walk out the door.
There’s hope.
All is not lost – even if you are the one with the decision deficiency. Decision-making skills can be taught, practiced, and refined. As long as you or your organization acknowledge the deficiency, it can be remedied.
Remember: Your organization is not a product of business circumstances, but rather, a product of its decisions.
© 2017 Definitive Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved.
John Sammarco has thirty-five years of experience leading, managing, and consulting to top public and private sector organizations, and has over twenty years of experience in facilitating complex group decisions. John founded Definitive Business Solutions in 2003, which provides world-class group decision-making solutions to increase efficiency, boost ROI, and reduce risk associated with business and technology investments. In 2016, John developed Definitive Pro™, which helps groups build consensus and make multi-criteria decisions.