Leadership Institute

Problem Analysis and Decision Making

Learning Format: Classroom

Order No. TM3

A rapidly changing, highly competitive marketplace demands making the right decision the first time -- quickly. Any delay closes the window of opportunity.

This workshop provides tools that enable leaders to solve problems proactively and gain others’ commitment to solutions and decisions. Leaders will make high-quality, effective decisions and learn to recognize how personal bias, tunnel vision, and marginal commitment influence decisions.

Do You Face Any of These Issues?

  • Do your leaders avoid making a decision because they lack confidence, or do they make decisions hastily or not at all?
  • Do leaders procrastinate because they can’t distinguish symptoms from causes and/or treat symptoms instead of causes?

Performance Objectives

Helps leaders:

  • Use the Decision Guide to solve problems and make recommendations and decisions.
  • Recognize how personal characteristics influence decisions.
  • Quickly and efficiently gather the type of high-quality information needed to solve problems and make decisions.
  • Gain greater commitment to decisions by involving others.

Primary Competencies Developed

  • Decision Making
  • Operational Decision Making

Secondary Competency Developed

  • Gaining Commitment

Workshop Overview

Day One

  • Problem-Solving/Decision-Making Process: The facilitator presents the Decision Guide process.
  • Personal Characteristics: Leaders explore objectivity, vision, and initiative. They discuss the impact on decision making, explore how to enhance and develop these personal characteristics, and identify how personal characteristics affect decisions.
  • Personal Learning Objectives: Leaders use profiles of effective and ineffective decision-making behaviors to assess their behaviors and identify personal objectives.
  • Information Base: Leaders begin completing Information Base forms for a situation analysis or cause analysis.
  • Situation Analysis: Four types of decision-making situations are introduced, focusing on situation analysis. Leaders apply the Decision Guide process and complete a case study.
  • Cause Analysis: Learners review cause analysis and how it relates to the Decision Guide. In another case study, they build fact-finding and cause-analysis skills.

Day Two

  • Decisions: Leaders practice using the criteria-based form and work through the go/no-go decision process.
  • Making Effective Decisions: Using a workplace situation, learners complete an exercise to reinforce the knowledge and skills they have learned in making effective, high-quality decisions.
  • Assessing Situations: Leaders review the types of decision-making situations and practice identifying them.
  • Application: Learners create an action plan for the workplace.

Video Segment Summaries

(Please preview. You may choose to not use this video.)

  • (Optional) A manager models fact-finding -- focusing on the “gather and organize information” stage of the Decision Guide process -- when meeting with a service leader on why there is such high turnover.

Workshop Details

  • Target audience: Mid- to senior-level leaders.
  • Workshop length: Two days (13 hours, 45 minutes total). No Fast Track option.
  • Facilitator certification: DDI-certified facilitator required.
  • Prerequisites: None.
  • Series: Suitable for all environments.
  • Group size: 8 to 16 people.
  • Prework: Yes.

Related Courses