This document discusses decision making as an essential leadership skill. It outlines various qualities leaders need for effective decision making, including accountability, risk tolerance, and adapting their values to benefit the organization. The document also examines different approaches to decision making, such as viewing it as an ongoing process rather than single events, and using inquiry versus advocacy. It notes obstacles that can arise, like disagreements preventing decisions or groups resorting to "groupthink". Effective leaders must be able to facilitate discussion but also make final decisions. Strategic decision making is emphasized as even more important than strategic planning for driving organizational change.

1. Decision Making: An Essential Leadership Skill Sarita Hinojos - San José State University - LIBR 204-11 - Spring 2011

2. Decision Making: An Essential Leadership Skill

3. Qualities and Characteristics Leaders possess many personal qualities and characteristics that influence their organizational decision-making style. Among these are accountability, risk tolerance, and value orientation. Successful leaders should be willing to take responsibility for their actions, take calculated risks, and adapt their values to make decisions that will prove most beneficial for their organization. Leaders often need to be fearless because “the unpredictability or uncertainty that surrounds most decision making, as well as the accountability factor (at least organizationally), means that a person has to assume some degree of risk with each decision” (Evans & Ward, 2007, p. 127).

5. Evans and Ward (2007) point out that “some people do not like to make mistakes, so they try to avoid problematic decisions. Essentially they hope to avoid accountability from decisions that go wrong. From an organizational point of view, someone must be accountable” (p. 126).

6. An effective leader must not be afraid to be accountable for all the decisions that he or she makes, whether they turn out to be right or wrong.Qualities and Characteristics

7. Risk Tolerance Continuum Fight Flow Flight Qualities and Characteristics Avoiding risk, confrontation, and change can lead to procrastination of decision making. A balance of the extremes based on recent experience is the best way to maintain balance. Seeing challenges in decisions without worrying about risk can lead to quick gut decision making. Evans & Ward, 2007, pp. 127-128

9. High risk/People oriented

10. Reflective, moderate decision making speed

11. Directive Style:

12. High risk/Task oriented

13. Practical, systematic, slow decision making speed

14. Conceptual Style:

15. Low risk/People oriented

16. May lack practicality, or seem hard to implement

17. Behavioral Style:

18. Low risk/Task oriented

19. Less decisive, decisions that avoid conflict but do not solve the problem

20. Consistent Style:

21. Balance of risk and tasks/peoplePeople Consistent Qualities and Characteristics Tasks High risk Low risk Evans & Ward, 2007, pp. 129-130

23. Are the best decisions made on specific times or days on the calendar, or are they made more as part of a continual process that occurs throughout the year?

24. Are these decisions made from an open exchange between team members, or are they made as a result of the strongest voice in the room?

25. It is essential for leaders to recognize these differences and act accordingly. & Event vs. Process Inquiry vs. Advocacy

26. Event vs. Process Approaches to Decision Making “The fact is, decision making is not an event. It’s a process, one that unfolds over weeks, months, or even year; one that’s fraught with power plays and politics and is replete with personal nuances and institutional history; one that’s rife with discussion and debate; and one that requires support at all levels of the organization when it comes time for execution.” – Garvin & Roberto, 2001, p. 110

27. Garvin and Roberto, 2001, p. 110 Inquiry vs. Advocacy Approaches to Decision Making

30. Jamie Houghton, CEO of Corning, came up with a metaphor for two of these different leadership roles:

31. During decision making, he “wears” his cowboy hat, meaning that he is an equal member of the group, which facilitates an ease in discussion and debate amongst its members.

32. Then, if a deadlock occurs, he “puts on” his bowler hat when he calls the question, signaling closure to the debate and resulting in a final decision.

33. Thus, a leader has to be a supportive peer as well as an authoritative voice throughout the decision making process.Bowler Hat Garvin & Roberto, 2001, p. 115 Obstacles to Overcome

34. Strategic Planning vs. Strategic Decisions Decision making is arguably even more essential to an organization and its leaders than strategic planning. Mankins and Steele (2006) explain that “identifying and making decisions is distinct from creating, monitoring, and updating a strategic plan, and the two sets of tasks require very different, but integrated, processes” (p. 81). They go on to say that “despite all the time and energy most companies put into strategic planning, the process is most often a barrier to good decision making…. As a result, strategic planning doesn’t really influence most companies’ strategy” (p. 81). Strategic planning is often thought of as an underlying factor in producing effective change in an organization. However, as the research above suggests, it is instead decision making that is at the core of dynamic strategic action. Therefore, strategic decision making skills should be a priority for any effective leader.

35. To Sum Up

36. References Evans, G. E., & Ward, P. L. (2007). Management basics for information professionals (2nd ed.). New York: Neal-Schumann Publishers, Inc. Garvin, D. , & Roberto, M. (2001). What you don't know about making decisions. Harvard Business Review, 79(8), 108-116. Mankins, M. , & Steele, R. (2006). Stop making plans; start making decisions. Harvard Business Review,84(1), 76-84. “…above all else leaders are made or broken by the quality of their decisions.” – Garvin & Roberto 2001, p. 108