THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO ARRIVE AT A DECISION

Through advocacy or inquiry

Arriving at a decision, as far as the concept of advocacy is concerned, is a contest. An advocate enters into a discussion solely for the purpose of convincing the decision makers. An advocate is a spokesman for his position. He will lobby for while defending it at the same time. Dissenters are discouraged or dismissed. Advocates fight to win since the alternative is to lose.

Inquiry, on the other hand, treats decision-making as a problem that needs to be solved. An "inquirer" enters into a discussion for the purpose of evaluating hypotheses. They think critically and present and listen to balanced arguments. Their attitude keeps them open to alternatives even when these viewpoints are submitted by the minority. In the end, this approach leads to a sense of collective ownership of the final decision by the entire group.

Politics, unfortunately, is one of those topics that can inflame the heart. It is hard to maintain an inquiring nature in this subject. Passion has a way of turning people into fierce advocates for their positions.

As my uncle often said, there are two topics of discussion that never end: politics and religion. And he wisely refrains from participating in both.

The presidential election is less than 90 days away and the incumbent president has certainly had a tumultuous administration. It is no wonder that passions run high especially among the Democrats.

I heard Senator Obama, the Democratic candidate, give a rousing speech at his party's national convention. As a former member of Toastmasters, I applauded his masterful delivery of his message. However, sometimes the delivery is so good that it is hard to review the meaning of the message.

I want to do that with both candidates.

I was surprised, therefore, when I read the analysis of Obama's speech in this political opinion article by Mr. Robert Tracinski. Entitled "Obama Offers a Beautifully Packaged Lie," I read it with a critical eye. I was looking for flawed partisan logic but saw none.

Here then, I present for your own review, are excerpts of Tracinski's article:

Barack Obama can fake sincerity, and that, more than the words of a speech or the pageantry that precedes it, is the key to his power as a speaker.

His speech last night was brilliant and perfect. It is too bad that the whole thing was a lie, which depended on the smoothness and apparent sincerity of Senator Obama's delivery to lull the listener into a state of credulity and prevent him from asking too many questions.

Here's an example that is small but revealing. Obama led with the best sales pitch he has to offer: that he is not George Bush. But of course, Obama is running against John McCain, not Bush. So he attempted to justify the substitution by claiming that "John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time." This statistic has been used throughout the Democratic convention, but it makes no sense. Bush is not a member of Congress and casts no votes there--so how can you compare his voting record to that of McCain?

But don't examine this folly; ask only what it accomplishes. It allows Obama to run against an unpopular president who will not defend himself because he is not actually in the race.

MANAGEMENT: CONDUCTING EFFECTIVE MEETINGS

Meetings can be the biggest time-wasters or progress-markers. It all depends upon following several guidelines.

Numerous articles abound that give advice on this topic. I have my own short list but I’ll first mention several good ones I’ve found on other sites. There won’t be any duplicates.

Sources: effectivemeetings.com, personal experience

DON'T MEET

• Avoid a meeting if the same information can be covered in a memo, e-mail or brief report.

VENUE

• Don't hold the meeting in your office. Meet in a conference room or another office. This enables you to leave the meeting more conveniently.

ASSIGN THE MEETING PREPARATION TASKS

• Give all participants something to prepare for the meeting, and that meeting will take on a new significance to each group member.

MEETING’S PURPOSE

• Keep the number of participants in any meeting to a minimum and ensure that each person attending knows the agenda in advance and why they are attending.
• Know why you’re meeting and ensure everyone knows it. Know what to expect from the meeting.

AGENDA

• Prepare the agenda beforehand and ensure everyone has it.
• Follow the agenda. Start and end the meeting on time.
• Start with the priority items. If time runs out, the most important items will have been covered. The remaining items can usually be postponed to another meeting.
• Create a “complete” agenda. This contains every item that needs to be discussed. The items are organized by priority, by subject, or by any meaningful category.

IS IT A STATUS UPDATE MEETING?

• A well-conducted status meeting works on an exception basis. It uses the same principle of an exception report. This report that contains only those items that stand out as exceptions to the rule. If two projects out of ten have problems, then the report will only go into detail for those two projects.

USE TIME PRESSURE

• Use the 80/20 rule, namely, 80 percent of the work will be accomplished usually during the final 20 percent of the meeting time.
• Try a stand-up meeting.

WHEN TO SCHEDULE THOSE QUICK MEETINGS

• Schedule your 15- to 20-minute meetings at the start of the day. If you learn about problems, you will have the rest of the day to try to resolve it. Then, if necessary, you can hold another brief meeting at the end of the day.

SETTLE ANY POINTS OF AGREEMENT AND DOCUMENT THEM

• Typically, a discussion will ensue regarding an issue. At the right time, the leader or a facilitator should intercede and canvass the participants to determine whether a consensus has been reached.

NO DOMINATION

• Do not let any one person dominate the meeting or agenda.

UNINVITED PEOPLE SHOULD STAY OUT

• Prevent uninvited people from joining the meeting.
• Depending upon the environment, some bosses like to drop in unexpectedly. Although they certainly have the power to do so, their presence can inhibit participation. Furthermore, more people at a meeting tend to slow down the meeting.
• Place a "Do Not Disturb" sign on your door when you don't want to be interrupted.
• Diplomatically inquire about the purpose of the person’s presence at a meeting. If it doesn’t make sense, politely request that person to leave.
• Stand up when someone enters your office, and meet them at the door. If you and your visitor remain standing the meeting will tend to be shorter.
• Remove any extra chairs from the meeting room or stack your books and papers on top of any extra chairs. If you change your mind about unexpected visitors, you can always remove the books and papers.

SMART CHOICES

"Our decisions shape our lives. Made consciously or unconsciously, with good or bad consequences, our decisions represent the choices we make in facing the opportunities, challenges, and uncertainties of life."

What makes you effective at your job? Consistently accomplishing desirable results, perhaps?

A manager, much less a leader, is measured by his results. And results are a consequence of the decisions that the person made.

Make a good decision and you can reasonably expect a good result.

Making good decisions is an important life skill. Your decisions shape the course of your professional career and the quality of your personal life.

Many of the thoughts being shared here came from two excellent books, some wise advice, and the hard knocks of my own experiences.

The two reference books are: “Smart Choices” by Hammond, Keeney, and Raiffa (1999) and “How Great Decisions get made” by Maruska (2004).

Both books receive 4.5 stars out of 5.0 in Amazon user reviews.

Smart Choices touts itself as a practical guide to making better decisions and it does a great job of it.

The authors advocate the use of the PrOACT approach, so named for the eight elements that comprise a smart decision. These are:

1. Problem
2. Objectives
3. Alternatives
4. Consequences
5. Trade-offs
6. Uncertainty
7. Risk Tolerance
8. Linked Decisions

Notice that the acronym only uses the letters of the first five elements.

The PrOACT approach shows you how to make a best choice among several alternatives. It won’t make hard decisions easy, the authors warn. Hard decisions are difficult because their circumstances are complex and you can ‘t wish these complexities away. The approach should help you handle the complexity sensibly by tackling each complex factor one by one.

That one-by-one process is the way the PrOACT approach works. The first five constitute the core and apply to virtually any decision. The acronym, PrOACT, was chosen to remind us that we should be proactive about making a decision otherwise someone else will decide for us. The remaining three elements—uncertainty, risk tolerance, and linked decisions—help clarify decisions that need to be made in volatile or evolving environments.

The essence of PrOACT is to divide and conquer. To resolve a complex situation, you break it into these elements and think systematically about each one. Focus on those factors that are key to the particular situation. Finally, assemble your analysis and think about the big picture. This method, the authors contend, will increase the chances of making the smart choice. Furthermore, while PrOACT will not make a hard decision easy, it will certainly make it easier.

THE EIGHT STEPS OF PrOACT

Pr is for Problem. Define the problem correctly. What must you decide? Framing the decision that you have to make can make all the difference.

O is for Objectives. Specify your objectives. Your decision should get you to where you want to go. A decision is a means to an end. What, therefore, do you want your decision to accomplish?

A is for alternatives. Create alternatives or alternate paths towards achieving your objectives. If there are multiple objectives, select and focus on the most important ones. The axiom for objectives is true for alternatives. Are alternatives necessary? Definitely. If you didn’t have alternatives, then you don’t need to make a decision. Be careful about generating your list of alternatives. Your decision can be no better than your best alternative!

C is for Consequences. Understand the consequences of your alternatives.

T is for Trade-offs. Objectives frequently conflict with one another and that forces you to compromise or seek a balance. In most complex decisions, there is no one perfect alternative. Different alternatives fulfill different sets of objectives. You want to choose the best alternative among the less-than-perfect possibilities. To do so, you need to prioritize the trade-offs between competing alternatives and their consequent objectives.

Now here are the remaining three aspects to consider.

Uncertainties. Uncertainty is risk. Uncertainty complicates decisions but effective decision-making requires that you confront probabilities and possible fall-back alternatives.

Risk tolerance. You should account for your willingness to accept risk, i.e., your risk tolerance. You have to be consciously aware of it. It will help you select the alternative with the risk level that you can accept.

Linked decisions. Your decision today will influence your choices tomorrow. The goals you set for tomorrow will influence your choices today. This means that many important decisions are linked over time. The key to dealing effectively with linked decisions is to isolate and resolve near-term issues while gathering the information needed to resolve those that will arise later. Act in sequence to exploit what you learn along the way so that you can incorporate the lessons you learn as you make choices in the future.

EXCERPT FROM “SMART CHOICES”

Our decisions shape our lives. Made consciously or unconsciously, with good or bad consequences, our decisions represent the choices we make in facing the opportunities, challenges, and uncertainties of life.

• Should I go to college? If so, where? To study what?
• What career should I pursue? What job should I take?
• Should I get married now, or wait? Should I have children? If so, when and how many?
• Where should I live? Should I trade up to a larger house? What can I contribute to my community?
• Which job candidate should I hire? What strategy should I recommend for my company?
• Should I change jobs? Go back to school?
• How should I invest my savings? When should I retire? To do what? Where?

Questions mark the progress of our lives and our careers and the way we answer them determines to a large extent our place in society and in the world. Our success in all the roles we play—student, worker, boss, citizen, spouse, parent, individual—turns on the decisions we make.

Some decisions will be fairly obvious. Your bank account is low and you have a two-week vacation coming up. Will you accept your in-laws’ offer of free use of their beachfront condo? Sure. You like your employer and feel ready to move forward in your career. Will you step in for your boss for three weeks while she attends a professional development seminar? Of course.

But the no-brainers are the exceptions. Most of the important decisions you’ll face in life are tough and complex with no easy or obvious solutions. And they probably won’t affect you alone. They’ll affect your family, your friends, and many other known and unknown. Making good decisions is thus one of the most important factors that will determine how well you meet your responsibilities and achieve your personal and professional goals.

The ability to make smart choices is a fundamental life skill.

Most of us dread making hard decisions. By definition, tough choices have high stakes and serious consequences. They involve numerous and complex considerations. They expose us to the judgments of others. The need to make a difficult decision puts us at risk of anxiety, confusion, doubt, error, regret, embarrassment, loss. That’s why it is so hard to settle down and make a decision.

When we make a major decision, we suffer periods of alternating self-doubt and overconfidence. Our discomfort often leads us to make decisions too quickly, or too slowly, or too arbitrarily. We may flip a coin, toss a dart, or let someone else—or time—decide. The result is a mediocre choice that depends heavily on luck for success. It’s only afterwards that we realize we could have made a smarter choice. But by then, it’s too late.

Why do we have such trouble? It’s simple. We don’t know how to make decisions well. Despite the importance of decision making to our lives, few of us ever receive any training in it. We are left to learn from experience. But experience is a costly and inefficient teacher. It also teaches us bad habits along with good ones. Because decision situations vary so markedly, the experience of making one important decision of seems of little use when facing the next. How is deciding what job to take or what house to buy similar to deciding what school to send your children to, or what medical treatment to pursue?

The connection among the decisions you make lies not in what you’re deciding but in how you decide. The only way to really improve your odds of making a good decision is to learn to use a good decision-making process—one that gets you to the best solution with a minimal loss of time, energy, money, and composure.

An effective decision-making process fulfills these six criteria:

1. It focuses on what’s important.
2. It is logical and consistent.
3. It acknowledges both subjective and objective factors and blends analytical with intuitive thinking.
4. It requires only as much information and analysis as is necessary to resolve a particular dilemma.
5. It encourages and guides the gathering of relevant information and informed opinion.
6. It is straightforward, reliable, easy to use, and flexible.

You can practice this approach on decisions major and minor. And the more you such an approach, the more efficient and effective it will become. As you grow more skilled and your confidence grows, making decisions will become second nature to you.