Trade Secrets From an Executive Coach.

After a good few years coaching senior management and consulting for large organisations, I have a whole heap of observations about people who make decisions.

My own background is in stakeholder engagement, complex decision-making, and the evaluation of projects where those things feature.

So, I’m lucky enough to have spent hundreds of valuable hours with experienced decision-makers in a wide range of topics.

Their views on what works, what helps, and what infuriates them, tells me that there are a handful of basics that great decision-makers refer to. These I pass on to my own clients.

So, with neither sugar-coating nor excessive anecdote, here are some of the things I recommend that any professional should look at to improve their own decision-making.

Now, this obviously isn’t a checklist of stuff to do, and not all decisions will need you to consider each and every point. However, as a decision-maker, you’d do well to chew on these for a while.

One: Be clear, and be positive.

Great decision-makers invest time in keeping things clear and simple.

They understand that making a decision is no more than the structured task of choosing between options. This is made far easier if the decision-making task is crystal clear, involving a well-formulated question to answer, allowing relevant resources to be gathered, which help identify the best option to take.

This sounds obvious but it’s by far the most common problem I come across when reviewing less successful projects: at key points, decision-makers were unclear about the issue in question and/or unclear about what was required of them.

Good decision-makers also understand that decisions are not problems. Yes, they might arise from a sticky situation, but they aren’t synonymous at all.

When clients say they have a problem choosing between options, what they’re really saying is that they didn’t know exactly what they needed to decide in the first place.

Effort and resources are no substitute for clarity and understanding.

Two: Improve your processes and trust them.

Good decision-makers rely on effective processes to take some of the decision-making strain upstream, way ahead of time.

They don’t leave the task of breaking-down decisions into simpler elements to one long’n’lumpy job on decision-day.

For example, anything that requires verification or approval can be taken care of via a simple binary observation within a process step; it’s not a decision.

Without this, complicated decisions become repeatedly channelled into narrow or even single points in the process, resulting in an over-reliance on a team or individual, and a potential point of process failure (if not whole program failure). If that individual is kidnapped by aliens again you’re in trouble.

Investing the time to build clear and stable processes will reduce decision volume, load and complexity, making substantial compound decisions rare.

Three: Learn from previous decisions.

Good decision-makers look back at their previous choices.

They reflect on their wider contexts, the specific circumstances, their own assumptions, their process, and the outcomes. They note and extract value from all of these.

And really great decision makers look outward, to external examples of similar scenarios, precedents for following certain options and regulations that might affect choices.

Such self-reflection helps them bring value from other work into new tasks. Poor decision-makers never reflect in this way.

Four: Seek out a range of options to consider.

Good decision-makers take time to compare even the most obvious choice with at least one other option.

The obvious choice can very often be a lazy or biased choice, and (when reviewed externally) poor decisions are often found to be those where only one option was tabled.

This is why larger organisations have policies around sole-supplier scenarios; as a vendor they can be painful (Ugh!) to go through but they are saving purchasers from all kinds of problems.

If the stand-out option is the right one it’ll compare favourably with others and be taken forward. If it doesn’t, then it’s lost out to something better.

This is admittedly tricky if there really is only one option available, but if there’s only one option you’re not actually selecting anything, just deciding whether to go with it. Which is a different kind of decision.

Five: Know the difference between data, information and evidence.

Good decision-makers know that these are not the same thing.

When I ask managers which data they’ve referred to in their planning and decision-making, I’m more likely to be shown a copy of a report summary, or an emailed newsletter from a professional network, than any table of figures. It’s sad that this doesn’t surprise me any more.

Maybe you leave this kind of thing to researchers and ‘numbers’ people, but I’ve included it here because you still need to know.

Data is about objective measurement. Information is data that has been interpreted or summarised for a specific use. Evidence is data that is used directly to either confirm or refute a position.

Good decisions (and good managers) use of the right type of knowledge for the right purpose.

Six: Speak (and listen) to people.

Good decision-makers don’t lock themselves away reinventing wonky wheels.

You are extremely unlikely to be in an entirely novel or unique situation that only you could possibly comprehend. You’re also unlikely to be the only person affected by your decision, or the only one who hopes that it doesn’t go belly-up.

So, discuss it with someone.

Explore the issue and consider the assumptions you’re making, check your understanding, seek new resources, look for precedents, ask for other managers’ reflections, find previous evaluations, and research reviews for potential suppliers.

Consult other people who have a stake in the success (or otherwise) of your choice. Refine your questions and decision-making criteria based on what they say as well as your own requirements.

Also remember that depending on the topic and your location, you might have a legal obligation to consult with others.

I wrote some of those statutory consultation requirements, so I know how that works. You’re welcome.

Seven: Understand risk and impact.

Good decision-makers look for the impact their choices might have and apply a precautionary principle where necessary.

Significant decisions which may influence a wide range of activity need to consider any risks they might introduce.

What changes could you realistically expect down the line if you introduce this new piece of equipment, or retire that policy, or change those standards?

Speak to others to check the internal impacts, but also work through any possible changes for those who supply goods and services to your operation, and those who use or consume your outputs. Make a note of these discussions for future practical reference, and also to demonstrate (should your decision ever come to evaluation or audit) that you sought to understand the wider impact of what you’re doing.

And again, you may have standards and regulations to comply with.

If this risk and impact hoo-ha is all new to you then you need to consult the specific technical advice that exists on risk management and impact assessment for your sector and location. 

The suggestions in this story are no substitute for such statutory advice. Neither is anything said at the water-cooler or in a comment on an op-ed in a trade publication — both of which have been cited to me in evaluations as ‘technical advice’.

Eight: Inaction can be entirely legitimate.

Good decision-makers know when to move and when to be still.

Doing nothing after you’ve worked through everything, is not the same as decision paralysis. If you have systematically worked through the issue and conclude that that none of the currently available options are viable, or beneficial, or prudent, then the ‘no-change / no action’ decision may be appropriate.

Document it, monitor your situation and move on.

However, arriving at this point can be a strong signal that a decision was never really required in the first place, and what you’ve actually done is an extended scan of opportunities to improve, and found none at this time.

You could call that both good news and bad news, but it’s really not the best use of resources.

Nine: Change your mind

Good decision-makers know that they are fallible.

Some decisions come down to the wire, with a hair’s breadth between seemingly ideal options. What then?

If after weeks of research, reviews and discussions you still can’t make a choice then it’s likely that the options in front of you aren’t the problem. This again goes back to establishing clarity at the start of the process.

But if you are uneasy about choosing between two well-suited and probably beneficial options, just make the choice a provisional one. Due diligence, precaution, safety, affordability, reliability and many more criteria should have been considered by this stage anyway, and your options wouldn’t still be on the table if they hadn’t satisfied those points.

So, try it out. Suck it and see. Give it a whirl. And label it as a pilot, a trial, a ‘holding position’ or an interim solution.

Just make sure you have a transparent plan for deciding when, how and whether the provisional decision would become your final choice.

Changing one’s position in light of new information is one of the smartest and strongest things a leader can do. Reject it at your peril.

Ten: Don’t step into other people’s decisions.

Finally, good decision-makers respect professional boundaries.

Anyone can make a helpful observation, go the extra mile, add organisational value and even be a critical friend. But there are plenty (and I mean heaps) of people who waste time and effort on trying to influence decisions that are way outside of their role and remit.

The majority of coaching and mentoring clients (both senior and junior) who report feeling frustrated and under-appreciated in their role, also cheerfully report stepping into projects where they have no responsibility, criticising their line manager’s decisions, dismissing processes and avoiding their day-to-day role.

This is hugely unprofessional at any level. Don’t do it. And don’t complain if you continue to do it and it comes back to bite you in the backside.

It’s also a sign that you need more or better communication with your own manager.

Good decision-makers save their time and effort for the roles they’re paid to do, and trust their respected peers to do the same.

There are of course many more specific tips I would give in specific scenarios, but that’s really what coaching is for. But keep these 10 suggestions in mind when considering your next decision, making that job application or even when making those life choices.

Good luck, and let me know whether these resonate with you and your experience.

And may all your decisions be small ones.