DECISION MAKING: COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURS INVOLVED – (CHAPTER 01)

Decision making is a cognitive process leading to the selection of a course of action among alternatives. It is a method of reasoning which can be rational or irrational, and can be based on explicit assumptions or tacit assumptions. Common examples include shopping, deciding what to eat, when to sleep, and deciding whom or what to vote for in an election.

Decision making is said to be a psychological construct. This means that although we can never “see” a decision, we can infer from observable behaviour that a decision has been made. It is a construction that imputes commitment to action.

Structured rational decision making is an important part of all science-based professions. For example, medical decision making often involves making a diagnosis and selecting an appropriate treatment. Some research using naturalistic methods shows, however, that in situations with higher time pressure, higher stakes, or increased ambiguities, experts use intuitive decision making rather than structured approaches, following a recognition primed decision approach to fit a set of indicators into the expert’s experience and immediately arrive at a satisfactory course of action without weighing alternatives.

Head, Heart and Gut – Powerful Decision Makers

We are living in unprecedented times of stress, confusion, and overwhelm. We all need resources to help navigate these challenging times and make the right decisions for the highest and best long-term good for ourselves, our families and our businesses. Those resources can be found within each of us if we pause to consider three reliable indicators: the head (intellect), the heart (feelings), and the gut (intuition).

Head:  Makes use of intellect and past knowledge. This involves using the conscious mind to discern questions that need to be answered. For example, is this person telling the truth? What has worked in the past? Have we done our due diligence and homework before making a decision?

Heart: The internal part of us, the voice inside, tells us when things feel right or wrong. For example, are we relaxed around the person we are asking the question about, or do we feel upright and uncomfortable? Keep in mind that our bodies do talk to us.

Gut:  We need to trust our intuition. If it doesn’t feel right, chances are it’s not right for us. What may be right for one person can be wrong for another. Our gut instinct, our inner voice, is always there for us when we take the time to pay attention and listen.

Decision making styles

A person’s decision making process depends to a significant degree on their cognitive style. There are more than a few models to explain these styles.  For example, the common personality test Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) examines a set of four bi-polar dimensions, which are:

She claimed that a person’s decision making style is based largely on how they score on these four dimensions. For example, someone that scored near the thinking, extroversion, sensing, and judgement ends of the dimensions would tend to have a logical, analytical, objective, critical and empirical decision making style.

Every leader prefers a different way to contemplate a decision. The four styles of decision making are directive, analytical, conceptual and behavioral. Each style is a different method of weighing alternatives and examining solutions.

The two spectrum work together to create the decision-making style framework. The first spectrum is structure vs. ambiguity. This spectrum measures people’s propensity to prefer either structure (i.e., defined processes and expectations) or ambiguity (i.e., open-ended and flexible). The second spectrum is task/technical vs. people/social. This spectrum measures if the motivation to make a specific choice is guided more by a desire to be right, or to get results (task/technical), or if it’s to create harmony or social impact (people/social).

Areas Of The Brain (Neuroscience) In Decision Making

Decision Making In Uncertainty

Decision making often occurs in the face of uncertainty about whether one’s choices will lead to benefit or harm. Emotion appears to aid the decision-making process heavily in the face of uncertainty. The somatic-marker hypothesis is a neuro-biological theory of how decisions are made in the face of uncertain outcome. In brief, this theory holds that such decisions are aided by emotions, in the form of bodily states, that are elicited during the deliberation of future consequences and that mark different options for behavior as being advantageous or disadvantageous. This process involves an interplay between neural systems that elicit emotional/bodily states and neural systems that map these emotional/bodily states.

Cognitive and personal biases in decision making

It is generally agreed that biases can creep into our decision making processes, calling into question the correctness of a decision. Some of the more commonly debated cognitive biases may be:

***To be continued in Chapter 02 (Various Techniques in use in individual and group Decision Making) Link to Chapter -02:

DECISION MAKING: COGNITIVE BEHAVIORS INVOLVED – (CHAPTER 02)

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

BEHAVIOURS THAT HELP LEADERS MANAGE A CRISIS

BEHAVIOURS THAT HELP LEADERS MANAGE A CRISIS

The roles and responsibilities of business leaders have dramatically changed in the past few weeks. Before COVID-19, leaders in high-growth companies were focused on fostering innovation, driving revenue, and gaining market share. Today, many of those same leaders must make rapid decisions about controlling costs and maintaining liquidity. They may encounter unforeseen roadblocks — supply chain issues, team shortages, and operational challenges — that drastically alter the scope of their roles and priorities.

All the while, they and their teams are navigating health and safety concerns, working remotely, and supporting their families through the pandemic. Those in charge will be tested in areas where they have not fully developed their leadership muscles, and the learning curve will be steep.  To move forward in a crisis, leaders need to cultivate some behaviours in themselves and their teams. They must decide with speed over precision, adapt boldly, reliably deliver, and engage for impact.

Behaviour 1: Decide with speed over precision.
The situation is changing by the day — even by the hour. The best leaders quickly process available information, rapidly determine what matters most, and make decisions with conviction. During a crisis, cognitive overload looms; information is incomplete, interests and priorities may clash, and emotions and anxieties run high. Analysis paralysis can easily result, exacerbated by the natural tendency of matrixed organizations to build consensus.

Leaders must break through the inertia to keep the organization trained on business continuity today while increasing the odds of mid- to long-term success by focusing on the few things that matter most. A simple, scalable framework for rapid decision-making is critical.

1. Define priorities. Identify and communicate the three to five most important ones. Early in the crisis, those might include employee safety and care, financial liquidity, customer care, and operational continuity. Document the issues identified, ensure that leadership is fully aligned with them, and make course corrections as events unfold.
2. Make smart trade-offs. What conflicts might arise among the priorities you have outlined? Between the urgent and the important? Between survival today and success tomorrow? Instead of thinking about all possibilities, the best leaders use their priorities as a scoring mechanism to force trade-offs.
3. Name the decision makers. In the central command “war room,” establish who owns what. Empower the front line to make decisions where possible, and clearly state what needs to be escalated, by when, and to whom. The default should be to push decisions downward, not up.
4. Embrace action, and don’t punish mistakes. Missteps will happen, but research indicates that failing to act is much worse.

Behaviour 2: Adapt boldly.
Strong leaders get ahead of changing circumstances. They seek input and information from diverse sources, are not afraid to admit what they don’t know, and bring in outside expertise when needed.

1. Decide what not to do. Put a hold on large initiatives and expenses, and ruthlessly prioritize. Publicize your “what not to do” choices.
2. Throw out yesterday’s playbook. The actions that previously drove results may no longer be relevant. The best leaders adjust quickly and develop new plans of attack.
3. Strengthen (or build) direct connections to the front line. In triage situations, it’s crucial to have an accurate, current picture of what is happening on the ground. One way is to create a network of local leaders and influencers who can speak with deep knowledge about the impact of the crisis and the sentiments of customers, suppliers, employees, and other stakeholders. Technology can bring the parties together.
4. Seek different perspectives. The successful crisis leader seeks out individuals who have a different perspective on an issue. They include individuals with whom they may not agree and whose advice may be contrary to that of their closest advisers. Effective leaders extend their antennae across all the ecosystems in which they operate.

Behaviour 3: Reliably deliver.
The best leaders take personal ownership in a crisis, even though many challenges and factors lie outside their control. They align team focus, establish new metrics to monitor performance, and create a culture of accountability.

1. Stay alert to and aligned on a daily dashboard of priorities. Leaders should succinctly document their top five priorities (on half a page or less) and ensure that those above them are in accord. Review performance against those items frequently — if not daily, perhaps weekly — and make sure that leaders share this information with direct reports. Review and update your “hit list” at the end of each day or week.
2. Set KPIs and other metrics to measure performance. Choose three to five metrics that matter most for the week, and have leaders regularly report back on each.
3. Calm, courageous and positive. They feel a sense of urgency and remain even tempered. They recognize that an organization, a country or the world is watching them and know that how they present themselves will provide non verbal signals to the audience. They will deliver bad news when they need to and do it in a way that avoids panic and provides a realistic level of hope for the future. Above all, they are courageous enough to make decisions they believe to be the right ones, regardless of whether they are the more popular ones.
4. Keep mind and body in fighting shape. To reliably deliver, leaders must maintain their equanimity even when others are losing their heads. Establish a routine of self-care: a healthy diet, exercise, meditation, or whatever works best for you. Stock up on energy, emotional reserves, and coping mechanisms.

Behaviour 4: Engage for impact.
In times of crisis, no job is more important than taking care of your team. Effective leaders are understanding of their team’s circumstances and distractions, but they find ways to engage and motivate, clearly and thoroughly communicating important new goals and information.

Leaders need to reiterate new priorities  frequently to ensure continued alignment in this time of constant and stressful change.

1. Connect with individual team members. Reach out daily for a “pulse check” with least five; block out time on the calendar to do this. Relate on a personal level first, and then focus on work.
2. Dig deep to engage your teams. When communication breaks down and leaders act without team input, as can more easily happen when work is remote, they get sub-par results. Good leaders are able to see the big picture. They can see all of the moving parts and understand what is cause and what is effect. They can dig deep into detail without being mired in it and quickly develop a very detailed knowledge of the issues. This ability further enhances their capacity to view the problem realistically.
3. Collaboration. The best leaders know they can’t do everything themselves. They understand, however, that a long-term solution requires the input and involvement of many stakeholders. They identify those individuals and work together towards a solution that most support and most can live with.
4. Ensure a focus on both customers and employees.
   1. To support customers: Reach out, but first do no harm. Track and document intel across your customer base. To strengthen relationships and build trust, keep the focus off yourself and explore how you can truly help your customers.
   1. To support employees: Lead with empathy and a focus on safety and health. Compassion goes a long way during turbulent times. Find ways to lend material aid to frontline employees who cannot work remotely.
5. Collect and amplify positive messages —successes, acts of kindness, obstacles that have been overcome. Many companies are tied to a noble purpose. Whatever your purpose, celebrate your daily (often unsung) heroes. Simply staying productive in these times is heroic.

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa