A630.4.4.RB_DellElceCamila

A630.4.4.RB – How Companies Can Make Better Decisions

            Marcia Blenko, the leader of Brain & Company’s Global Organization Practice, explains how to effectively make decisions at the center of a business. She defines decision effectiveness into four components, “Quality: was it a good decision? Speed: how quickly do we make decisions compared to our competitors, Yield: did we executed decision the way we intended, and Effort: using the right amount” (HBR, 2010). In their hypothesis, the company was able to conclude all these components are correlated with financial performance. The correlation between employees engagement and decision effectiveness comes from clear objectives. In my opinion, it has been my experience that if my superior knows how to and when to make a decision or delegated, then followers like myself, will know what to do next, resulting in exceptional organizational performance. As Blenko suggest the four elements for good decisions, in my opinion, decision effectiveness should also entail how to sustain a culture that supports such employee engagement for long-term decision-making.

            Moreover, the interview mentioned that more complex companies, the evolution of companies moving to different global markets, leadership behaviors getting on the way, and not having the right talent to make such decisions could lead companies to decision-making obstacles. I believe health organizations are to be named complex companies because of their rigorous policies and everyday patient’s relations. The health care system is so complex when it comes to insurance policies. When you call the patient’s insurance to obtain a prior authorization for a surgery, for example, they provide such verbiage that if you are not paying attention, it could easily mislead to a future denial. In addition, more often than anticipated, leadership has a lot to do with how decision-making goes. In some occasions, the leadership is focused on the wrong target and decisions are based on how much money can be made instead of how to improve customer service for example. And of course, not everyone is set to be a manager or leader, making it really hard for the organization to succeed under less than capable talents. In the other hand, Marcia Blenko provided five steps to reach successful decision-making:

1.     Understanding how well you are doing and how you are making decisions

2.     Identifying the critical decisions

3.     The what, the who, the how, and the when

4.     Making sure all the organizational things support those individuals decision once they have been reset, the talent, the culture.

5.     Making sure you embed that throughout of the organization.

            My take-away from this exercise to immediately put into practice in my career is that if I am ever in a leadership position, I will make sure to provide a clear vision for those who follow me to establish a better outcome for the organization. Most importantly, decision-making is what makes an organization successful by enhancing the message transmission between leaders and followers.

References

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th edition.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Harvard Business Review (2010). How companies can make better decisions. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbxpg6D4Hk8&feature=player_embedded