Making decisions is a fact of life, and in business we make them constantly from which phone calls we make and in which order to more strategic decisions such as which products or services to offer.

However, ‘how’ decisions are made within a business, depends as much of the size and culture of the business as it does the decision to be made itself. Some are made on pure ‘gut instinct’ or by certain people, whilst others require more thought, in-depth analysis, discussion, and engagement.

So, what if there was a way to make better business decisions?

Clearing making the right decision at the right time is a critical component to a successful business. To address this problem management consultancy firms such as Bain & Company as well as many academics have developed approaches aimed at clarifying decision making to make it more effective and transparent. These approaches cover not only the decision itself, but also core factors which affect how the decision is made and the outcome of it.

The Green Robin Solutions approach to making better business decisions

Our approach to problem solving and to making better business decisions, has been designed to ensure that the decisions which really matter, such as strategic decisions are given the right level of investigation, ownership and monitoring required to see the them through to delivery.

  1. Determine
    1. Define the decision to be made, what are the drivers for it and who will be affected by it and what are the alternativesGreen Robin Solutions
    2. Determine why the decision must be made now, and what are the risks of taking or not taking the decision
  2. Decide
    1. Short-list decision options available which the business could take, including their effort and benefit relevant to each other
    2. Select appropriate decision and approach to be taken to achieve the decision
  3. Deliver
    1. Appoint responsibility for execution of the decision to an appropriate person(s)
    2. Track decision and performance until completion (which may include needing to change approach or taking a different decision
  4. Document
    1. Document the outcome of the decision for example how taking the decision has improved/changed the business
    2. Record any points/ lessons learnt from delivering of the decision. This will assist the business in making better decisions going forward

The stages outlined above require engagement, honesty and pragmatism from all stakeholders. Sometimes when the facts change the decision itself may need to be revisited and either revised or changed all together. We live in a world which is rapidly changing, full of data and opinions which can actually make decision making a lot harder than it would first appear, it is now far easier to second guess or to change approach before the decision has been carried out in completion. When this happens, there is a real risk that the business will fail to properly implement the difficult decisions which sometimes must be made. A consequence of this constant changing, or half delivery of plans and actions is that staff engagement and moral drops as the feeling of uncertainty increases, this can create a negative spiralling effect on the business further prohibiting the making of good decisions.

How we use our approach to help out clients?

The Green Robin Solutions approach as outlined above aims to ‘de-risk’ decision making. A lot of our work involves working with various organisations helping them to define and implement solutions to the problems they face. Very often these decisions are strategy based and we work closely with our clients to define the right strategy for them, identifying and managing any risks associated with these decisions and working closely with them to see these decisions through to fruition. This involves going through the stages of decision making whilst ensuring that any risks identified are managed appropriately to maximise the likelihood of success of the decision and minimising the likelihood of failure.

Green Robin Solutions is a business optimisation and resilience consultancy, we help businesses of all sizes to remove ‘friction’ from the customer journey making it easier for customer to buy from you, while ensuring the right tools are in place to enable business continuity should a crisis occur.

We offer a no obligation 30-minute consultation to discuss resilience, continuity and disaster planning, and more widely how problem processes within your business can be dealt with.

 Email: rob@greenrobinsolutions.com

Website: www.greeenrobinsolutions.com

Mobile: 07486864804