Effective Strategies for Making Decisions

We all make decisions. At work, within our families, and in our communities, the decisions we make and the actions we take have a profound impact on our own success and on the success of the organizations in which we work. There are several approaches to decision-making that are promoted in popular literature. But which is the best way to make decisions? In this post I will describe what I see as the three major categories or types of decision-making and will show how these can be used to make good decisions.

As I discussed in a previous post, there are three general approaches to decision-making: (1) systematic process approaches, (2) intuitive approaches, and (3) principle-based approaches.

In instructional design, systematic process approaches include things like the ADDIE Process, The Dick and Carey Model, and other systematic processes for creating instruction. Intuitive approaches are more creative in nature and employ what has been called The Creative Spirit of Design. Principles-based approaches assume that systematic processes produce generalizable results, and that we can base our design on the assumptions embedded in the principles. (I describe instructional principles in detail in this previous post).

Combine these Approaches

I would submit that effective decision-makers intuitively combine each of these approaches in the decisions they make. Thinking systematically enables the individual to use scientific forms of thinking and reasoning, and without this the decision will likely be flawed. For example, when I redesign a course in my work at Franklin University, I often review and analyze data related to that course - student feedback, faculty comments and concerns, the course materials, and trends in the field - so that I can have a sound basis upon which to redesign the course. But in that redesign, I can also rely on principles to guide my work. I assume that applying these research-based instructional principles will produce the optimal learning environment, so I apply them to the course I am redesigning. Finally, in any given course redesign, I find that I must use my intuition and creativity to make some of the decisions that go into the design and development of the course. If there is no clear way to develop an assignment or a piece of multimedia, I do my best to creatively apply what I believe will help students learn effectively.

Previous Post: 6 Principles for Using Data to Make Decisions

Goals and Decisions
To make a good decision, you must have a goal or an outcome. If you know what you want to happen, then you are already on the right track. Sometimes the decision is to simply decide what your goal is. If you can't agree on a goal, then you are probably in trouble.

Context is Crucial
It should be noted that these three decision-making approaches all occur within a specific context. The nation, state, city, organization, college, department, and workspace a person is working in can all significantly influence the decisions being made. A good decision-maker is very aware of these contexts and considers them when applying all three decision-making strategies.

Decisions are Often Not "Right and Wrong"
In making decisions at work and in life, there is often no "right" answer.* There may be literally hundreds of ways to address a problem or work toward a goal, and you eventually have to make a decision and see what happens. But these decisions can be measured and held against a standard of success, and if the decisions (and their actions) lead to the desired result or goal, then it can be held up as a good decision. As a bonus, you can often learn from your experiences adjust your actions and decisions later to move you closer to your goal.

Previous Post: Leadership and Effective Decision Making

Use These Strategies!
I recommend using each of these strategies. The magic, of course, lies in when an individual should use which strategy, and through time an experience, you will develop your own approach. As long as you are thinking systematically, identifying and using principles effectively, and creatively applying your knowledge, you will make effective decisions that will positively impact your life and your work.

*I want to make clear that I am not promoting the notion that there is no right or wrong, or no good or evil. There are some decisions (and their subsequent actions) that I believe are most certainly wrong. I refer here to those decisions which do not have clearly right or wrong paths.

6 Principles for Using Data to Make Decisions

Using Data to Make Decisions
If you want to succeed, you must be willing to base your decisions on reality. But work in the knowledge society can be so complex that making the right decision becomes extremely difficult.

In my experience in the world of competitive education, we must be goal-oriented and must be as efficient and effective as possible. But how is this accomplished? How can we ensure that our activity will actually produce the results we desire? I believe that appropriate use of data is the single-most important component to be used in making effective decisions. (And no, I do not mean the fictional Star Trek character Data, though it would be awesome if we could use him to make decisions...).

Related Post: Leadership and Effective Decision-Making

Below are 6 principles for making effective decisions based on data:

1. Have goals. What does your organization want to accomplish? These goals should be measurable, something that you can know you have accomplished. They should be concrete enough to align with your organization's mission but should be flexible enough to adapt to the environment in which you operate.
2. Identify performance measures that indicate (1) progress toward your goals (sometimes called leading indicators), and (2) accomplishment of your goals (lagging indicators). Lagging indicators will likely not change often, for example, the number of persons served, number of students graduating, amount of money made, etc. No matter the purpose of your organization, there are specific goals and these goals must be measurable and measured. How you reach your goals might change, and therefore your leading indicators might change as well.
3. Automate measurement of performance measures. Decisions are most effective when based on reality, so it is crucial to make the data readily available. This automated measurement can be done through technology or through people, and often it is a combination of both.
4. Organize the data in meaningful, relevant ways so that they can be interpreted, understood, and linked to our goals and to our decisions. Data is only useful if it appropriately represents important aspects of reality (i.e. your goals) and enables effective decision-making.
5. Use the data. You can use data to perform several key functions, including (but not limited to) the following actions:
1. Identify whether you are moving toward and reaching your goals.
2. Identify where you are having performance issues. These issues can be articulated as performance gaps, meaning the gap between desired performance and actual performance.
3. Identify what is causing the gap. This data should come from many sources and should be comprehensive in nature. You will often have to gather additional data at this stage to get a real picture of what is happening. This data can be gathered through observation, interviews, focus groups, data mining, existing reports, etc. Be sure to gain data from all relevant sources and triangulate all sources to get a holistic, realistic picture of what is happening.
4. Identify what can be done to close the gap. This part is usually a pretty easy step because it should be based on the cause of the gap. Again, you may need to gather additional data from the sources identified above.
6.  Make a decision and implement it based on the results of your data analysis. Again, if you do not base what you do on thoughtfully acquired, thoroughly analyzed data, then you will be much more likely to make poor decisions that could have potentially disastrous consequences.

As I wrote about in a previous post, humans have the tendency to jump to conclusions, to do what seems best based on instinct or previous experience. And while this approach can often be effective, it does not always work. We must be willing to gather and use sound data to make our decisions, or we will be left in the proverbial dust by those who are willing to do the work required to make good decisions.

Principle-Based and Data-based Decision-Making
I want to be clear that I am not advocating an arduous process of data-gathering and analysis every time a decision must be made, which would be rather counter-intuitive. As human beings, we have the capacity to generalize our experiences into principles and best practices, which can guide effective decision-making. Experienced leaders and professionals can often intuitively discern effective decisions based on their experiences in similar prior situations.

Perhaps, then, we might use principles to guide our use of the data. Indeed, our mission, goals, and strategies can be based on principles and values and informed and refined by data. A combination of principle-based and data-based decision-making, therefore, becomes most powerful.

Thinking Systematically
Making decisions based on data aligns with the idea of thinking systematically, and it requires discipline and hard work to focus efforts on the systematic activities that will bring the results we desire. This systematic process can be applied in any setting and should be used when specific results are desired. For examples of how to apply systematic thinking, consider the following previous posts in which I share examples of thinking systematically:

1. The ADDIE Process (a systematic process for designing effective instruction)
2. Setting Professional Goals (I describe a systematic process for doing this)
3. A post describing the ISPI-adopted HPT Model (a systematic process for improving performance in business) 

You will note that these processes all follow the same basic pattern: (1) identify where you are and where you want to be; (2) plan out how to get where you want to be; (3) do your plan; (4) see how well your plan worked; and (5) adjust your plan and keep trying. This process is powerfully effective, and when data guides the decisions made at every step, success becomes much more likely.