{"id":3366,"date":"2014-08-11T13:46:20","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T20:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.careersingovernment.com\/tools\/?p=3366"},"modified":"2014-08-11T13:47:07","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T20:47:07","slug":"get-paid-make-decisions-confident-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.careersingovernment.com\/tools\/gov-talk\/career-advice\/on-the-job\/get-paid-make-decisions-confident-process\/","title":{"rendered":"You Get Paid To Make Decisions. Are You Confident In Your Process?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"martha.decisions\"<\/a>Advancing in your career comes with the requirement of making more decisions. Those decisions impact employees, customers and financial results. Your ability to make good decisions in a timely manner can make or break your career. Given that, I thought it might be helpful to outline a process and options to consider.<\/p>\n

Step 1: Understand the full context of the situation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Many decisions have to do with coming up with solutions to a problem or actions to take to avoid a negative situation. Suppose you are the manager of a customer support center and are told, \u201cWe have a serious problem with our customer support line, customers are on hold too long before getting help.\u201d?\u00a0 Without asking more questions, the manager is likely to start solving for the phone line response time by\u00a0focusing on ways to reduce the response time\u2014for example, adding more phone lines, adding more phone representatives, or increasing the hours of service. These solutions will address the\u00a0symptoms\u00a0<\/em>of the problem\u2014overloaded phone lines\u2014but may not address the\u00a0root<\/em>\u00a0of the problem.\u00a0Too often, managers make the mistake of seeking solutions before they understand the nature of the problem or situation.<\/p>\n

Step 2: Perform root cause analysis<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

To get to the root of the problem, you should be thinking about\u00a0why<\/em>customer calls have increased dramatically. Is one product in particular responsible for an inordinate number of calls? Is there a flaw in the product? Are the instructions that the customer receives missing some important step? Are all the call center staff completing the required training?\u00a0Be careful not to assume from the outset that you know what the problem is. Focus your efforts on getting to the root cause\u00a0\u00a0 by framing the problem in a variety of different ways and assessing whether the available information supports your theories. Throughout the entire process, ask “why?” and other open-ended questions that encourage exploration.<\/p>\n

Step 3: Get Creative in Solution Ideas.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In order to make an informed decision, you need choices. Generating alternatives creates those choices. Consider this scenario: A marketing manager at a snack foods company calls a meeting with his team to discuss how to increase chip & nut sales in Asia. Everyone just looks at one another so the manager breaks the silence by suggesting they change the current packaging. Following this cue, someone offers supporting statistics about packaging & consumer trends. Another describes the packaging of a product that has done well in Asia. The meeting concludes with the assignment of a task force to research new packaging options.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This meeting proceeded smoothly. So went wrong? The manager didn\u2019t successfully engage the team in generating alternatives. He didn’t promote healthy debate & constructive conflict. Instead, group harmony resulted in an action step based on the first idea that emerged\u2014 packaging options. There was little creativity or innovative thinking, therefore, no\u00a0new<\/em>\u00a0ideas surfaced & the group settled on the first alternative suggested, which was the manager’s idea!\u00a0<\/strong>This is an opportunity to conduct a brainstorming session. Start with a blank flipchart page. At the start of the meeting ask team members to suggest any ideas that come into their heads, or ask individuals to take a few minutes to develop their own lists of ideas to share publicly. Then, record the ideas but don’t discuss their merits at this point. Don\u2019t criticize, instead focus on identifying as many alternatives as possible. You can evaluate the ideas after you have a list of possibilities.<\/p>\n

Step 4: Evaluate Solution Alternatives.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are variables to consider when evaluating the alternatives:<\/p>\n