Across all the stages of strategic visioning, transparent decision making with structured discussions can be leveraged to minimize bias and maximize decision quality. In this section we will cover this common mechanism.
In the last section, we explored when strategic visioning activity sparks decision-making. We showed how a transparent Decision can be created to record the collaborative process that will follow.
Each decision follows a common workflow:
After creating a new Decision, the decision-to-be-made is framed, to steer it towards a best-fit approach. Different Decision Types need different decision making approaches.
We start by characterizing the decision-to-be-made by:
Exercise:
As we open the decision making process, we first want to confirm that a collaborative, deliberative approach is warranted. Start by applying the Speed Test to confirm that there is enough uncertainty to justify this amount of overhead.
Next apply a decision-specific roles and responsibilities framework like RAPID or DACI to help identify who should be invited to the decision making party.
Find the right mix of context leadership, team representation, cross-context stakeholders, and subject matter experts (SMEs) to enrich the dialog.
Exercise:
The nature of the collaboration on a decision can vary:
When decision making happens in strategic visioning, we are often trying to understand causal realtionships between the Levers (i.e. alternative options) we could "pull”, their likely results, and the goals we have. These offer different paths into the many potential futures, where some are more preferred than others. Visual presentations like the CDD and outcome trees are effective ways to bring a group to a shared understanding of the possibilities.
Exercise:
When the most viable alternatives are identified, they can be presented back to the group for final discussions in the form of a Multi-Choice Decision Matrix. Use the Beliefs and Tradeoffs for the context to help establish the Criteria for the decision. The Discussing phase of the decision workflow can be brought to a close by soliciting “last words” and “final votes” on the alternative set.
Exercise:
When the Driver moves the Decision to the Ready state, it signals that discussion and dialog is over. It signals to the Decider that they must weigh the inputs and comments and make a choice.
Exercise:
Since most decisions navigate through some uncertainty, it is useful to communicate the final choice in the form of a Hypothesis, to support an experimental mindset in the transition to work planning (e.g. as a series of Bets). A good decision architecture will enable consistent communication of the made-decision, and provide a consistent way to get commitment for the decision across key stakeholders.
At this point, stakeholders across the enterprise can access the decision record to drive alignment and confirm commitment around the choice.
Exercise:
