Leadership Institute

Making Effective Decisions

Learning Format: Classroom

Order No. WD31

In today’s flatter organizations, employees who can make sound decisions quickly have the power to significantly reduce their organization’s costs and enhance competitiveness.

This course helps employees master a systematic approach to making better and faster decisions that will result in more effective performance.

Do You Face Any of These Issues?

  • Do people in your organization sometimes have difficulty making good decisions?
  • Are people afraid of making the wrong decision?
  • Do people know what to do when they realize they have made the wrong decision?

Performance Objectives

Helps associates:

  • Avoid common decision-making traps.
  • Increase the speed and quality of decisions.
  • Gain support to make decisions work and involve the right people at the right time.
  • Build people’s confidence in their ability to make the right decisions.
  • Make major and minor decisions confidently.

Primary Competency Developed

  • Decision Making

Course Overview

  • The Challenge of Decision Making: Participants complete a survey on a recent work decision and the types of decisions they make. They act out a script that shows the unexpected negative results of a poor decision-making process. In an activity, learners determine the behaviors and results common to four decision traps. Based on their surveys, learners identify which situations lead to traps and which traps they might fall into.
  • Five Steps to Better Decisions: Participants explore the five-step decision-making process and the support tools for each step. Negative and positive model video examples are shown. In two paired activities, learners plan an upcoming decision process and decide how to monitor a recent decision. The group discusses how they will avoid decision traps and apply the decision-making process in the future.

Video Segment Summaries

  • Frustrated team members discuss a decision that has been made based on a misunderstanding of their concerns, highlighting how frequently people diagnose and solve the wrong problem.
  • An example of poor information gathering shows employees who are dissatisfied with a decision that was made without their involvement.
  • In an example of generating alternatives, team members have a positive brainstorming experience that results in creative ideas for how to equip a new work space.
  • Task force members charged with selecting the best combination of vending snack foods begin a spirited discussion to evaluate various options.

Course Details

  • Target audience: All employees up to senior-level leaders.
  • Course length: 3 hours, or 2 hours Fast Track.
  • Facilitator certification: DDI-certified facilitator required.
  • Prerequisites: None.
  • Series: Suitable for all environments.
  • Group size: 10 to 20 people.
  • Prework: No.

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