Decision Making For Dummies

Chapter 11

Exploring the Decision-Making Tool Kit

In This Chapter

Exploring ways to engage your team when the decision comes from the top

Investigating negotiation and consensus-seeking as decision-making strategies

Getting teams involved through participatory decision-making

Every company approaches decision-making in its own unique way. Many rely on the formula taught in business schools, think-plan-do. This approach is very logical and predictable — even comforting — unless it winds up looking more like do-think-redo, a real possibility for companies that are in a hurry 24/7. Other companies approach decision-making more randomly. They make one decision after another, hoping that, by throwing enough ideas against the wall, one will eventually stick.

Whichever approach you use, you must choose the tools that best fit the working environment and produce the desired results. Your effectiveness as a decision-maker is also dependent on how you use your authority to communicate with and engage your team.

In this chapter, I explain how your communication style can impact team engagement in the decisions, show you different approaches to decision-making, and provide a few tools to use ...