Successful Decision Making

Good managers are above all good decision makers. This course focuses on empowering decision makers at any level to place their decisions on a rational footing. This will enable them to record, explain and justify their thinking, and to provide support for intuitive judgements with simple but systematic analyses. Participants will have the opportunity to work on their own decisions, applying a process which identifies options, pay-offs, penalties and risks and which ensures consistency without sacrificing 'gut-feel'.

Learning Outcomes

Participants will be able to:

• Explain the structure of a decision.
• Define objectives, options and criteria.
• Prioritise criteria and attributes.
• Document a decision and add to corporate memory and knowledge.
• Deal with uncertainty.
• Check emotional state with regard to making a decision.
• Have an awareness of modern decision making tools.
• Consult with information contributors effectively.
• Satisfy accountability and transparency requirements.
• Apply these techniques to a decision of their own.
  

Application Areas Include:

• Strategic Planning
• Risk Management
• Recruitment
• Procurement
• Funding
• Project Selection
• Supplier Selection
• Contractor Selection...and many others

Course Outline

• The Anatomy of a Decision
• Formulating a Decision
• What do I need to know?
• How important is it that I know it?
• Developing decision criteria
• Decision tables for simple cases
• Decision trees for complex cases
• Issues of emotion
• Documenting a decision
• Consulting with colleagues
• Dealing with an uncertain world
• The AHP method
• Modern decision tools
• Application to a workplace decision
• Justification and explanation
• Evaluating a decision