As the American writer Rita Mae Brown said: ‘A peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one.’ And what is wrong depends.
Doing a job interview, one of the best questions you can have is how the decisions are made in the company. It speaks about the actual culture. If there is an answer for this question at all. In many cases, there is not.
Because decision making is not as conscious as you’d think. No wonder that a group of people who never talk about the decision making process among them do not have a clear way they always comply with. Then you add the phenomenon that big organisations of mature operations tend to keep the status quo, and you get something odd.
For a positive decision, everyone’s approval is needed in big companies. Though for the rejection, one veto is enough. Yet, saying no should be the same kind of decision, evaluating the pros and cons. It’s kind of not searching for what we can do to make that act happen, but searching for why it cannot be done.
When the company is small and the founder can decide everything, it is a smooth operation. But when the organisation gets bigger, it’s in its interest to have a well defined decision making process to settle conflicting aspects. Being conscious about it, elevates your maturity.
Apple is often criticised for not being the fastest company in innovation. One reason for that is group decision making. Since they focus on usability, they investigate every feature on a group level and everyone has to agree on the solution to launch that feature. It takes some time, but as it is conscious, they are satisfied that it serves them well.
Have you ever felt paralysed by a big decision? You stare at two options, one seemingly "good" and the other undeniably "bad." This binary framing, however, is a trap for business leaders. In reality, most choices aren't moral dilemmas where only one can be right, but rather forks in the road, each leading to a different landscape with its own set of challenges and opportunities.
Imagine you're hiking a new trail. You reach a point where the path splits: one leads through a shady forest, the other across a sun-drenched meadow. There's no inherently "good" or "bad" choice. The forest path might offer cooler temperatures but less visibility, while the meadow is bright but potentially exposes you to the sun's harsh rays. The best decision depends on your priorities: are you more concerned about staying cool or spotting wildlife?
Let’s imagine a bakery famous for its artisanal bread. They were a well-oiled machine, but their customer base was stagnant. They had a chance to expand by opening a new location – a "risky" decision by some accounts. The new area had a lot of potential customers, but it also faced competition from a national chain.
Fear threatened to paralyse them. However, the management team helped them reframe the situation. They weren't choosing "good" (staying put) or "bad" (expansion). Instead, they weighed the potential rewards (increased market share) against the risks (competition) and formulated a plan to mitigate those risks – developing a strong marketing strategy to differentiate themselves from the chain.
The decision wasn't easy, but they took the plunge. The new bakery thrived, attracting customers with their unique offerings. Looking back, their initial apprehension is understandable, but playing it safe wouldn't have led to this success.
While staying put might have seemed like the "safe" option for the bakery, it could have led to unforeseen challenges down the line. Here's what they might have faced:
In the beginning, the bakery was in favour of staying put, because there was some kind of comfort in their situation. That’s why their point of view might have tricked them. Change is never easy.
What if they had already started seeing some signs of decrease in performance? Their preference could have been quite the opposite to search for growth opportunities for survival. If so, opening a new location could have been a tempting solution. How you see things define how you want to deal with those things.
Remember, even a seemingly comfortable situation can stagnate. Sometimes, the biggest risk is not taking a risk at all. The bakery's decision to expand, while initially scary, ultimately opened doors to a brighter future.
So, the next time you face a critical decision, remember:
Business is an adventure, not a series of binary tests. By adopting this new perspective, you can make informed decisions that propel your business forward, one well-mapped path at a time.
