Comments on: Decision Making: How do you do it? http://talkingstory.org/2009/02/decision-making-how-do-you-do-it/ Starting new conversations in the workplace! Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:13:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Talking Story with Rosa Say: Are you a Linchpin, a Genius, or an Alaka‘i Manager?... http://talkingstory.org/2009/02/decision-making-how-do-you-do-it/comment-page-1/#comment-3783 Talking Story with Rosa Say: Are you a Linchpin, a Genius, or an Alaka‘i Manager?... Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:14:06 +0000 http://talkingstory.org/?p=89#comment-3783 First off, this posting isn’t going to qualify as a book review for Linchpin, Are you Indispensable? because I haven’t finished reading it. I barely got 12 or so Kindle-short pages into it when the business of day-to-day living interfered in a couple o... First off, this posting isn’t going to qualify as a book review for Linchpin, Are you Indispensable? because I haven’t finished reading it. I barely got 12 or so Kindle-short pages into it when the business of day-to-day living interfered in a couple o…

]]> By: Talking Story: Decking the Halls of my Head Space http://talkingstory.org/2009/02/decision-making-how-do-you-do-it/comment-page-1/#comment-3447 Talking Story: Decking the Halls of my Head Space Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:22:57 +0000 http://talkingstory.org/?p=89#comment-3447 <strong>Decking the Halls of my Head Space...</strong> Let’s talk story about mantras Funny how some mantras just come to you, seemingly out of the blue, but they really are very perfect. All we need to do is stop when we get in the flow of things (we feel the energy pulsing through us), and just cap... Decking the Halls of my Head Space…

Let’s talk story about mantras
Funny how some mantras just come to you, seemingly out of the blue, but they really are very perfect.
All we need to do is stop when we get in the flow of things (we feel the energy pulsing through us), and just cap…

]]> By: Lorraine Rinker http://talkingstory.org/2009/02/decision-making-how-do-you-do-it/comment-page-1/#comment-234 Lorraine Rinker Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:00:20 +0000 http://talkingstory.org/?p=89#comment-234 Hi Rosa - What a fascinating theme to reflect on. You are receiving wonderful responses and I appreciate the opportunity to participate. Ideas don't become "real" for me until I've written them down. I get a visual in my mind of what the end result will look like and typically need to translate it to "paper" in order to commit it to memory. I keep a business journal for daily streaming of ideas - - the bigger the decision, the more intense and fluid my writing and drawing becomes. I've always been a "big picture" person, I believe this is where most leaders excel. Connect the Dots was my favorite game to play when I was a kid. I found such joy in revealing the hidden picture, bringing it to life by simply drawing lines from one dot to the next. Today, connecting all the dots (systems thinking, collaboration and community) to create the picture (revealing the true potential in all of us) is still my favorite thing to do. I look at my approach to decision making as a combination of analytics and art. Balance and alignment is key - - words and images, left and right brain, the heart and the head. Mahalo for giving us a moment of clarity. Best/Lorraine Hi Rosa – What a fascinating theme to reflect on. You are receiving wonderful responses and I appreciate the opportunity to participate.
Ideas don’t become “real” for me until I’ve written them down. I get a visual in my mind of what the end result will look like and typically need to translate it to “paper” in order to commit it to memory. I keep a business journal for daily streaming of ideas – - the bigger the decision, the more intense and fluid my writing and drawing becomes.
I’ve always been a “big picture” person, I believe this is where most leaders excel. Connect the Dots was my favorite game to play when I was a kid. I found such joy in revealing the hidden picture, bringing it to life by simply drawing lines from one dot to the next. Today, connecting all the dots (systems thinking, collaboration and community) to create the picture (revealing the true potential in all of us) is still my favorite thing to do.
I look at my approach to decision making as a combination of analytics and art. Balance and alignment is key – - words and images, left and right brain, the heart and the head.
Mahalo for giving us a moment of clarity. Best/Lorraine

]]> By: Rosa Say http://talkingstory.org/2009/02/decision-making-how-do-you-do-it/comment-page-1/#comment-233 Rosa Say Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:55:15 +0000 http://talkingstory.org/?p=89#comment-233 I like your definition of intuition Timothy, and I do think it includes our emotional intelligence too. I like your definition of intuition Timothy, and I do think it includes our emotional intelligence too.

]]> By: Timothy Johnson http://talkingstory.org/2009/02/decision-making-how-do-you-do-it/comment-page-1/#comment-232 Timothy Johnson Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:57:46 +0000 http://talkingstory.org/?p=89#comment-232 Hi Rosa - intuition is every bit as part of a decision input as facts and data. Intuition is really just our experiences and knowledge stored by our subconscious, but that makes it no less important. A great decision maker will look at both facts and data AND intuition and gut. My best decisions have used both. This discussion is so critical at helping people dissect this very important and life-changing skill. Thanks for bringing it up. Hi Rosa – intuition is every bit as part of a decision input as facts and data. Intuition is really just our experiences and knowledge stored by our subconscious, but that makes it no less important. A great decision maker will look at both facts and data AND intuition and gut. My best decisions have used both.
This discussion is so critical at helping people dissect this very important and life-changing skill. Thanks for bringing it up.

]]> By: Rosa Say http://talkingstory.org/2009/02/decision-making-how-do-you-do-it/comment-page-1/#comment-231 Rosa Say Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:45:21 +0000 http://talkingstory.org/?p=89#comment-231 Coming to a group decision will always mean a more difficult blending Lee, but that can also mean a success with reaching a collaborative decision that is all the sweeter! The kind of ‘hard work’ that feels so good when we know we have given it our very best, getting to true collaboration versus settling for cooperation or consensus. Ah Timothy, you are so good for the more logical affirmation of all of this! I absolutely love it when I can get good systems-thinking aligned with my more trust-in-your-gut sensibility for things. I do admit that in my case, that first bit – “the need for making a decision in the first place” can largely come from pure instinct —at least urgency/priority-wise it always seems to be talking to me loudest! Joanna, as with my response to Timothy, I’m a big believer in one’s intuition: I am certain we have an innate wisdom for what ultimately is best for us in personal decisions most of all. I guess ultimately the question is just about if you feel you need to further explore your own process or not, and I like to explore processes like these for two main reasons: First for their self-attuned affirmation (as you know, that is part of aloha spirit-spilling for me) and second because I want to be sure I duplicate what I know works for me, encouraging the habit-forming patterns of my best behaviors. Coming to a group decision will always mean a more difficult blending Lee, but that can also mean a success with reaching a collaborative decision that is all the sweeter! The kind of ‘hard work’ that feels so good when we know we have given it our very best, getting to true collaboration versus settling for cooperation or consensus.
Ah Timothy, you are so good for the more logical affirmation of all of this! I absolutely love it when I can get good systems-thinking aligned with my more trust-in-your-gut sensibility for things. I do admit that in my case, that first bit – “the need for making a decision in the first place” can largely come from pure instinct —at least urgency/priority-wise it always seems to be talking to me loudest!
Joanna, as with my response to Timothy, I’m a big believer in one’s intuition: I am certain we have an innate wisdom for what ultimately is best for us in personal decisions most of all. I guess ultimately the question is just about if you feel you need to further explore your own process or not, and I like to explore processes like these for two main reasons: First for their self-attuned affirmation (as you know, that is part of aloha spirit-spilling for me) and second because I want to be sure I duplicate what I know works for me, encouraging the habit-forming patterns of my best behaviors.

]]> By: Joanna Young http://talkingstory.org/2009/02/decision-making-how-do-you-do-it/comment-page-1/#comment-230 Joanna Young Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:55:21 +0000 http://talkingstory.org/?p=89#comment-230 Rosa - "I'm not entirely sure" would be the honest answer to your question. In my previous management job - by a mixture of listening, analysis, trusting my own judgement, calculating the time available to think/decide, then setting a clear course and working out what needed to be done to take us there. Life decisions are always more difficult, messy, and murky (in my experience anyway!), they take longer, seem difficult and uncertain, take a lot of agonising over, are eventually determined by... intuition. Not always accompanied by certainty or no regret. Would that it were so. But once on my way... all the other decisions about how, process, time... well they fit fairly easily into place, and I probably do them on an on-going basis (but not in the organised / documented way you describe... more as I go along) Does that answer any of the question? Rosa – “I’m not entirely sure” would be the honest answer to your question.
In my previous management job – by a mixture of listening, analysis, trusting my own judgement, calculating the time available to think/decide, then setting a clear course and working out what needed to be done to take us there.
Life decisions are always more difficult, messy, and murky (in my experience anyway!), they take longer, seem difficult and uncertain, take a lot of agonising over, are eventually determined by… intuition.
Not always accompanied by certainty or no regret. Would that it were so.
But once on my way… all the other decisions about how, process, time… well they fit fairly easily into place, and I probably do them on an on-going basis (but not in the organised / documented way you describe… more as I go along)
Does that answer any of the question?

]]> By: Timothy Johnson http://talkingstory.org/2009/02/decision-making-how-do-you-do-it/comment-page-1/#comment-229 Timothy Johnson Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:37:08 +0000 http://talkingstory.org/?p=89#comment-229 Hi Rosa - great stuff here! Like with most things in life, I view decision-making like another system (there is no wing at the Betty Ford clinic for systems thinking addicts, by the way). The inputs are the decision variables, including the need for making a decision in the first place and the data available. The throughput (or transformation process) is our decision-making process, or how we convert those variables into... The output (the decision itself), the outcome of our thought process. The feedback loop of our decision-management (follow-through on this decision as well as other related decisions) helps lead to other decisions' inputs. Great discussion... I've always been fascinated by how people make their decisions. Hi Rosa – great stuff here! Like with most things in life, I view decision-making like another system (there is no wing at the Betty Ford clinic for systems thinking addicts, by the way).
The inputs are the decision variables, including the need for making a decision in the first place and the data available.
The throughput (or transformation process) is our decision-making process, or how we convert those variables into…
The output (the decision itself), the outcome of our thought process.
The feedback loop of our decision-management (follow-through on this decision as well as other related decisions) helps lead to other decisions’ inputs.
Great discussion… I’ve always been fascinated by how people make their decisions.

]]> By: Lee Iwan http://talkingstory.org/2009/02/decision-making-how-do-you-do-it/comment-page-1/#comment-228 Lee Iwan Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:26:25 +0000 http://talkingstory.org/?p=89#comment-228 Very important differences re: group vs. individual decisions. I have genuine difficulties making collaborative decisions, much more time consuming. Many times the solutions/decisions must be negotiated which is an essential yet exhausting process. Always wishing the others had the same "aha" flash of understanding that led me to my decision. When clear hierarchies are present, much easier, facts presented and questioned, recommendations made, decision taken. It all gets muddier when there are no clear hierarchies and structures (also more interesting inter-peraonal and creative dynamics). Dangerous if there is a dominate personality that prevents interaction and dissent. Very important differences re: group vs. individual decisions. I have genuine difficulties making collaborative decisions, much more time consuming.
Many times the solutions/decisions must be negotiated which is an essential yet exhausting process. Always wishing the others had the same “aha” flash of understanding that led me to my decision.
When clear hierarchies are present, much easier, facts presented and questioned, recommendations made, decision taken.
It all gets muddier when there are no clear hierarchies and structures (also more interesting inter-peraonal and creative dynamics). Dangerous if there is a dominate personality that prevents interaction and dissent.

]]> By: Rosa Say http://talkingstory.org/2009/02/decision-making-how-do-you-do-it/comment-page-1/#comment-227 Rosa Say Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:10:46 +0000 http://talkingstory.org/?p=89#comment-227 A good add Lee: Our environments and sense-of-place connections can be a big influence. I also think we can all learn from comparing how our process might change when we decide on our own, and when we are purposely trying to come to a collaborative decision - say in a team, in our work contexts, or with a mastermind group. A good add Lee: Our environments and sense-of-place connections can be a big influence.
I also think we can all learn from comparing how our process might change when we decide on our own, and when we are purposely trying to come to a collaborative decision – say in a team, in our work contexts, or with a mastermind group.

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