decisions Archives - Page 3 of 7

01
May 20
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Unexpected Choices Spark a Pivot.

Decisions sometimes need to be made even when it is undesirable. Have you encountered unexpected choices during adverse conditions?

If you have, then you’ve probably recognized that freezing, seizing up, or having a reluctance to consider alternatives may result in poor choices.

People deal with the stress of the unexpected in different ways. Some immediately want to explore while others just want everything to go back to what they considered normal.

In many cases, there is not a back to normal option. The status quo is no longer available. There becomes a new normal.

People often believe that a persons environment shapes who they are and who they become. Others believe that people are who they are, regardless of any environmental observation or stimulus. There is even a psychology based term for this, it is known as the Fundamental Attribution Error.

Our environment is powerful. Situations and circumstances are powerful. Your habits, ethics, and integrity are also powerful.

What do you do or assume during adverse conditions? Are you looking for new options or do you find yourself restricted to known paths?

Innovators seek new options.

Unexpected Choices

You may discover that it is time to pivot. Time to explore the unexplored and discover a different direction.

What do you do when the store is out of your favorite brand?

How do you get to work when your normal route is blocked?

What happens when you don’t have the right tool for the job?

You improvise. Discovery of options and choices provide an opportunity to keep moving.

Everyday decisions always have an outcome. Decisions that you make under pressure or adverse conditions also have an outcome.

Certainly a decision or choice to do nothing is still a decision but the opportunity to pivot gets new things started.

It may be the unexpected choices or options which require you to go in a new direction that yield the best results.

Consider alternatives.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

23
Apr 20
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Framed Decisions Condition Future Outcomes

Tags : decisions decisive focus indecisive

Everyone wants to make good decisions. Are you decisive or indecisive? Will framed decisions make a difference?

The easy answer is, they always do.

Perhaps the next question should be, how?

Without careful consideration everyone is making their decisions or choices within a frame. Framing a problem is generally constructive, it helps create focus and piece together the best possible solution. Decisions are made within the frame.

When you expand or contract the frame, the picture and outcomes may change.

“I want a new cell phone,” is very different from, “I want a new Samsung cell phone.” It’s different because the frame is different.

How are you framing the decisions that you make?

Framed Decisions

The decisions you make and the frame you place around options and choices are part of a compromise. You are compromising on future outcomes and directions based on the frame.

The compromise can make a decision come to a conclusion, or it can prolong a decision creating a lack of commitment.

Framing your decision alters the possibilities and future outcomes.

It is true for deciding what you’ll have for dinner and it is true for the scope of your marketing plan.

It is always important to establish a frame. The frame helps guide clarity and it also will limit the possibilities. Limiting the possibilities can be constructive, or if brainstorming, perhaps not so constructive.

What you do next for your career or your organization will have a lot to do with your frame.

Consider setting the size of you frame appropriate for the pursuit of your vision. No limits doesn’t always mean no limits, sometimes it means reaching beyond your frame.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

17
Apr 20
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Drama Decisions Are Not Productive

Tags : choices decisions drama pivot productivity

Each day you have a responsibility. The responsibility to make decisions. Are you making drama decisions, or good decisions?

When your job, at least in part, is to make good decisions have you considered the information that guides those decisions?

Obstacles and Validity

It’s common that workplace leaders hear and see a lot. People run to bosses, especially middle managers, seeking an opportunity to have a voice.

They voice their opinions. Opinions that sound like facts, but are not facts. Some may be valid and reliable. Others may be nothing more than hearsay.

Your best decisions may come from careful analysis. It may mean examining the data, asking more questions, and even having the patience to allow things to unfold a little before jumping.

Some workplace leaders find themselves sandwiched between a variety of stories with little data. These stories are often embellished versions of the real story, and unfortunately an easy management trap is to listen to a few and then the last presentation seems to win.

These are drama decisions.

Drama Decisions

Drama decisions are fueled with unproductive emotions. Often arising from jealously, envy, or spite.

Voices get loud. Frequencies increase, and the outcomes feed the drama even more.

If part of your job is being responsible for making good decisions then it may be very important to consider the characteristics of the source.

Are you listening for facts and not reacting to opinions?

Is there any data to back up the message?

What is really the root cause of the scenario being presented?

You didn’t achieve a position responsible for making good decisions by often making bad ones, but could you still do better?

Have you considered the value of thinking more critically and making better decisions?

It may be a worthwhile exercise.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

15
Apr 20
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Better Choices Come From Better Habits

Tags : career choices decisions habits leadership

Are you able to make better choices? Is it your job to make better decisions, to think more critically, or to choose the best path?

Chances are good that everyone has some of this responsibility. If it is true for you, how are you ensuring your choices produce the best outcomes?

“Every dog has its day.”

Nearly everyone quickly recognizes the meaning of this phrase. It is to suggest that at some point, everyone gets some luck or stumbles onto some good fortune.

Many people believe that the best of the best get all of the breaks. The view is that life is easy and good fortune is always coming their way.

It is true for the view of individuals and often also true for the view of businesses or organizations.

Lucky Breaks

Have you ever had a streak of good luck? What about a streak of bad luck? Many will tell you that bad luck comes in three’s and so you look for it to stop after a self-identified, third event.

Streaks of good luck or bad luck don’t continue on forever. That is why we call them a streak.

Studies on the concept of luck have concluded that we all have about the same amount of luck. It is how we manage our luck that determines the future outcomes.

With all of this in mind it would seem logical that your daily habits are what make the most difference.

Better Choices

Each day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute, positions you to make the best choices and decisions about what will happen next.

Today you’ll make some choices. Tomorrow the path might be altered ever so slightly (or drastically) to create a new beginning.

Diets and exercise don’t change a physique on a single day. Getting better at your craft doesn’t flip the switch over night. Your career or your business venture isn’t about a single day, a single moment, or a specific spike or decline.

What happens across a career is about choices. The choices you make are connected to the habits you follow.

Today is a good day to figure out what those are.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

13
Apr 20
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Louder Voices Aren’t Always Smarter Voices

Tags : communication decisions leadership listening truth

Do you believe everything you hear? Are the people with louder voices saying the right things?

Everyone has a choice for what they choose to believe. It is true for politics, religion, and even our actions and behaviors in public or in your workplace.

Most people are familiar with the concept of the squeaky wheel. The notion that the person who makes the most noise gets the attention.

Is it true?

The best answer is, sometimes.

Louder Voices

Workplace leaders should always self-reflect on what sparks their ideas and directions for making business decisions. We all process information, it may be information we seek or it may be information we stumble upon.

Louder is a metaphorical expression, not necessarily connected to volume. It’s true, some people are just louder than others.

In modern circles louder often comes from the network. The community of people who come together with similar ideas, values, or beliefs. They tend to shout, sometimes loudly, and they are often heard.

When evidence seems to appear that corroborates the noise they recently received, it becomes an apparent truth.

While it is important for everyone to consider the information they give. It is just as important to consider the information you receive.

In workforce circles there is often a discussion of workplace politics. It has to do with how people navigate the boss, the circles of gossip, rumors, and the content of the secret meeting.

Louder voices seem to often get the stage and the microphone.

Just because they are louder it doesn’t mean it is smarter.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

26
Mar 20
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Multiple Choice Decisions Frame the Outcomes

Tags : decision making decisions multiple choice

Remember the last test you took? Did it include multiple choice answers? Multiple choice decisions make the assumption that the best answer is inclusive, is it?

Decision making is often much more complex than people realize and critical thinking plays an important role.

Make a list of pros and cons.

Let’s do a fish bone diagram to make sure we understand the root cause.

We need a brainstorming session.

The truth of it is, all of those may have value but only when you are operating within the correct frame.

In school, I often liked the short answer test questions. I often felt that I could express my reasoning and logic better, demonstrating that I had a grasp of the material. It didn’t always work.

As people we tend to want to fill in the blanks. When we don’t understand an action or behavior, we often fill in the blanks for a reason why.

The boss wouldn’t make eye contact, she must not have liked my question.

John was late for the meeting this morning. He must have overslept.

Cindy didn’t answer my email, she must not agree with my suggestion.

When something doesn’t seem to fit, we come up with a reason why.

Multiple Choice Decisions

In the workplace, meetings are held. Some are informational. In these meetings the information tends to flows in only one direction.

Other meetings are for problem solving. The idea is often about creating solutions.

Be mindful of the solutions generating meeting (problem solving) that is delivered with multiple choice options. Is the best possible answer in the group of suggested solutions?

People are directed each day, or not, by the frame in which they operate.

Sometimes what happens next should not be driven by the list of recommended choices.

That is what we often call, “Being framed.”

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

16
Mar 20
-

Urgent Work Is a Different Priority

Tags : commitment decisions focus priorities urgency

How do you decide what is going to get done? Are you doing urgent work or just work that feels like it should get done?

One decision you make almost every day is closely connected to what happens next.

What are your priorities?

Your Priorities

Will you brush your teeth first, get dressed, or take a shower? What is your priority?

Will you grab a coffee at work, report to your work area, or discuss the latest news with a colleague? What is most important? What is urgent?

There are lots of ways to determine priorities. Often it is driven by some form of need. However, the need is not always the same as what you or others want.

You also likely factor in the concept of what you should do.

I should…

Go to the gym after work.

Tidy up this mess before doing anything else.

Finish the report before the meeting on Wednesday.

When you consider the should factor, you may discover that should isn’t always the most important or urgent. Should is often considered a nicety.

In the workplace, or in your community, you’re often challenged by trying to decide on the right things to work on. What is the most urgent?

Will finishing the report early help my coworkers? Does that rise to the level of urgency?

Is picking up trash in the park more urgent than working on a campaign to help shelter the homeless?

Urgent Work

People often decide on what they’ll work on next by the urgency that they perceive about the importance of the task.

Individual perceptions which are often driven by group dynamics, peer pressure, and even the media affect your sense of urgency.

The next time you want something to happen you may want to consider how others may perceive the sense of urgency. Urgent work always seems to take a priority.

It’s not the squeaky wheel, but it may be the sneaky wheel.

Understand your priorities.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

19
Feb 20
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Team Agreement or Agree to Disagree?

Tags : agree to disagree agreement decisions group dynamics

When you’re seeking buy-in do you get team agreement or are people agreeing to disagree?

Chances are really good that any time you have two or more people working together eventually you’ll disagree about something.

When working with groups and teams on conflict I always suggest that conflict is a natural part of people working together. How they choose to manage conflict will determine if it becomes harmful.

Team Agreement

Why do we disagree?

It is an interesting dynamic because many businesses claim that they are seeking to hire employees who are the perfect fit. Often the expression of fit is not about competencies or skills, it is more about values, beliefs, and perspective.

Boards of directors often take a similar position. They often seek people for board seats because they want to achieve agreement on difficult issues. When the board approves a motion, it must be the correct decision. Board members with differing opinions need not apply.

Yet, the pull to the push is that diversity of opinion may make us stronger.

Decision by consensus may quickly come to mind. True decision by consensus is not about majority vote, it is not popular opinion. Decision by consensus means that a group has complete agreement about the decision.

As you may quickly realize, true decision by consensus is often hard to attain.

Should we agree to disagree?

Agreeing to Disagree

I believe that agreeing to disagree is a good temporary patch to a disagreement that may be about to explode in to a harmful argument. One important aspect of agreeing to disagree is that it is not a win-win solution.

What do you do when the team cannot agree? Are the minority members shunned into silence or forced to vote to the affirmative?

We can suggest that some group members may lack experience, understanding, or that they simply have a closed-mind. Most commonly, we suggest that they are wrong.

Achieving team agreement may be a delicate balance of give and take.

Decide on where you will give.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

10
Feb 20
-

Long And Complicated Stories Affect Decisions

Tags : complicated decisions focus stories

About to make a big decision? Do you find yourself stuck behind long and complicated stories? What stories are you telling yourself?

When someone asks you about a project, a situation, or a surprising outcome that they’ve heard through the grapevine is there a story behind it?

In many circumstances, there is.

Whenever you are facing a challenging decision, especially one that appears to have long-term effects on the future, there might be a story.

That doesn’t make the situation any more unique. It does often mean that there are numerous pros and cons. So many, in fact, that it makes the choice that much harder.

Big Decisions

In decision making many people will often suggest listing the pros and cons.

When you make a list, you can more clearly see the appropriate direction. This does sometimes help, but what often happens is that this exercise brings more focus.

When you focus on the main point. The area that may seem to have the most benefit or worst consequence the story gets shorter. Shorter means you have less anxiety and less pressure on the decision.

Complicated Stories

Sometimes the decision that has been chronically delayed needs to narrow down to one point on either side. The reason for and the reason against. Everything else is just making it more complicated.

There is often a third point though, and that third option is to stay on course, don’t make a new or different decision.

Choices can be tough. Big decisions feel hard to make.

You always want to be sure you make the right one.

Sometimes it helps to consider that the next big decision you make will absolutely be the right decision at the moment you make it.

Life is fluid. Don’t over complicate it.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

18
Dec 19
-

Assumption Decisions Are Made In Every Meeting

Tags : assumption data decisions Gut feel results

Meetings are often about decisions. They are also about information, thinking, and often about assumptions. Are you making assumption decisions?

At the very start of every meeting there are assumptions. The assumption about why Jane is missing, why Bob looks worried, and about how the meeting will evolve.

Most meetings expect reflection. Reflection is part of experiential learning and it is part of being a participant and contributor.

What are you reflecting upon?

Meeting Anxiety

Are you wondering what will happen when you’re asked to verbally contribute? Will you be called upon to vote, respond, or is the expectation to simply nod your head?

What is the elephant in the room? Is the elephant your imagination or do others feel the same thing?

Everyone knows that we shouldn’t make decisions based upon assumptions. However, when the data is lacking, when we’re lazy, or when our experiences tell us it is safe, we do it.

Technology and data are helping us get better. We have gauges and sensors that help eliminate assumptions.

The temperature in the room, made known by a gauge. A tire with low pressure on our car, known by a gauge. The amount of storage used on our computing device, yes, of course, known by the data or gauge.

Is valid and reliable data better than making an assumption?

Assumption Decisions

All of our modern conveniences help us do better by being smarter. We make better choices because the information seems irrefutable.

Occasionally, an assumption will get in the way. We’ll either choose to ignore the data or we’ll take a different path because the path appears more consistent with our gut feel.

What assumption decisions are you or your team making? And the outcomes, how have they worked out?

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Tag Archives: decisions

May 20

-

Unexpected Choices

Apr 20

-

Framed Decisions

Apr 20

-

Obstacles and Validity

Drama Decisions

Apr 20

-

Lucky Breaks

Better Choices

Apr 20

-

Louder Voices

Mar 20

-

Multiple Choice Decisions

Mar 20

-

Your Priorities

Urgent Work

Feb 20

-

Team Agreement

Agreeing to Disagree

Feb 20

-

Big Decisions

Complicated Stories

Dec 19

-

Meeting Anxiety

Assumption Decisions

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