Best Possible Outcome

CHAPTER 18MAKING DECISIONS IN A CRISIS

What are we going to do?

Through the decision-making process we have observed the situation by examining the facts and have developed supporting assumptions. We have oriented our organisation to the situation by predicting how it may evolve through scenario planning, and we have established where we need to get to by setting strategic objectives. Now we make the decisions that will enable the organisation to contain, control and recover from the crisis.

At this stage some members of the group will instinctively want to leap into solving the problem before considering the details in the observe and orient stages. But the first two stages are essential for aligning the team's thinking, capitalising on the diverse talents, backgrounds and experience of its constituent members, and setting the conditions for effective decision-making.

This brings us back to Colonel Boyd's perspective from his fighter plane. If you fail to observe and orient yourself to the problem, you will be merely reacting. Rather than linking your actions to what the enemy aircraft are doing, you will be throwing your plane around the sky erratically.

From a business perspective, reacting without considering the facts and how they affect you will not protect your organisation but will rather exacerbate the crisis.

ACTION PLANNING AND ALLOCATION OF RESPONSIBILITIES ...