Decisions

Much of our work focuses on why and how people make and take Decisions and how this impacts

Strategy and Risk. The Values which underpin our decisions also determine how we will behave both individually and as a group – we call these behaviours Culture.

Neuroscientists tell us that human beings probably make as many as 10,000 decisions a day, roughly 1 in every 15 seconds on average!

Decisions are largely driven by ten key universal moral values or principles and three fundamental ethical perspectives. See MORALDNA™ below.

Decisions are also influenced by three other key factors: emotions, circumstances and experience.

• Emotions: Emotional intelligence is seen as being a critical component of effective leadership.

• Circumstances: require us to evaluate where we are, what we know, what is available to us, what others might do etc.

• Experience: means we can draw on what has happened in similar situations previously, either personally or by asking others. We can use the pattern of past events to help predict the future.

MORALDNA™

10 key values and 3 Ethical perspectives are measured by a unique diagnostic called MoralDNA™

Moral Values: Self-Discipline, Courage, Prudence, Fairness, Trust, Belief, Love, Honesty, Humility and Excellence.

Ethical perspectives:  Obedience/Rules, Reason/Principles, Care/Outcomes.

These are core principles that most human beings will hold and use in the decision making and taking process. They combine to create what may be termed our Character and this informs our Judgement about what we Decide to do.

All have been known for thousands of years and form the basic humanity of all the world’s cultures and religions.  They can be measured by taking an online profiling survey called MoralDNA™

Visit www.MoralDNA.org  if you want to try this yourself. It is free for individuals but there is a charge for corporate usage

Decisions clearly impact the risks associated with how we behave. Good decisions tend to have better outcomes than those which are poorly thought through.

Sub-optimal decision making, however good the execution, almost inevitably puts an individual or an organisation at risk.

All organisations therefore need a framework to help their people make and take better decisions

The DECIDE™ model is a care-full (careful) approach to holistic decisioning which seeks to mitigate against care-lacking (careless) outcomes.

D-efine:  Be clear on all the facts, what sort of issue it is, and what you are trying to achieve

E-xamine:  Look at all the options. What is less obvious? Be intuitive.  Seek advice.

C-larify: Stop and Think and Discuss. Consider all the possible outcomes of your decisions.  

I-ntegrity: Does your decision reflect ALL the values you stand for?  Is it ethical and principled?

D-eliver: You need courage to take a decision, stand by it and execute both effectively and fairly

E-valuate: Review your actions, seek feedback. What will you do differently next time?

“The unexamined life is not worth living”  -  Socrates