Making Decisions Effective

Probably why Magaret Thatcher said,

Probably why Magaret Thatcher said, "Consensus is the absence of leadership."

This podcast was nothing short of an

This podcast was nothing short of an early holiday gift.

Talking through the difference between a meeting filled with choices compared to a meeting where a decision was made gave perfect clarification to a feeling I have all too often at the end of a long winded meetings.

Too many leaders believe the work is over when the "hard" choice is made when in fact the real work is just beginning: who is going to do what by when.

Thanks again for another great podcast.

Mike & Mark, On your suggestion I

Mike & Mark,

On your suggestion I bought the Effective Executive a month ago and have in truth been struggling to get to grips with the book. Drucker writing is on a different level to anything I have read before.

Listening to your show yesterday I was reassured to hear that it wasn’t just me who found Drucker intense, yet immensely rewarding. I have now started to reread the book and look forward to gleaming even more insight the second time round.

Thanks Guys!!

"Work is force applied over time." My

"Work is force applied over time." My third grader quoted this the other day. I don't think he realizes how true this is.

After this cast I intended to buy The

After this cast I intended to buy The Effective Executive as an audiobook... but was very surprised not to find this audiobook. Has anybody ever seen this book in audio format?

Mark, I'm waiting for the graphic

Mark,

I'm waiting for the graphic designers in the audience to come up with a huge graphic that we can all post on our walls that says "Choice + Action Plan = Decision". Great Cast!

Off topic, but would you recommend the Amazon Kindle that you mentioned in the cast?

Solid cast, gentlemen, and true to my

Solid cast, gentlemen, and true to my experience. I would submit, moreover, that most "choices" are in fact much less important than the plan (and its execution). Rarely are we called on to make choices that determine the fate of the company. Our execution, however, matters greatly. So avoid a bad choice, make a good one (even if it isn't "optimal") and then focus on execution.

John

WE all bow to Drucker, whether we

WE all bow to Drucker, whether we realize it or not.

Mark

[...] Listen Here

[...] Listen Here [...]

Catching up on this cast also reminded

Catching up on this cast also reminded me as a consultant to make even clearer recommendations in my report that allow management to make effective decisions based on choices within reports, if you take this choice here is the who, when and monitoring of the outcome, take this other choice.......

Excellent podcast Mark & Mike. I was

Excellent podcast Mark & Mike. I was using the principle in a meeting I was facilitating and got into a sticky situation and I wonder if I handled it effectively. I am a consultant and new to the group I was working with and they were not used to good meeting practice. There was a key point where the group wanted to make a choice that XYZ should be done but didn't want to say who should take responsibility - essentially there were three managers in the room under whom it could have been. I insisted they needed to assign responsibility and we went for three loops of people talking about the challenge but dodging responsibility which I would then raise again. This went for 20+ minutes, I had to drop items off the agenda to still finish on-time, and still had to set up a separate session with the manager's manager to cover responsibility.

I am sure this is common: the choice is easy, turning it into a decision is hard. As facilitator do I stay firm and stick with the item until we get to a decision? Or do I stick to the agenda, "let them off the hook" for now and schedule a new slot next meeting for the decision part ?

Stay firm. Though you running the

Stay firm. Though you running the meeting is probably ineffective. I'd suggest some more work on the front end of future meetings on groundrules and getting senior manager buy in. They're fighting you because you have no power... even though that's a lousy reason.

H

Mark, In my experience "Choice +

Mark,

In my experience "Choice + Plan = Decision" is right, AS FAR AS IT GOES. In my organization (Flight Projects Directorate at NASA Langley Research Center - yeah, I'm a Rocket Scientist) where we go awry is that we miss the next equation, "Decision + Execution = Outcome". A decision in and of itself is nothing if not executed; having a plan does not imply execution, at least not in my world.

wssyrett, You are SO right ... stay

wssyrett,

You are SO right ... stay tuned, I think you'll enjoy an upcoming cast. ;-)

Mike

"I wish I knew this when I was 22"

Hello!

I have been listening to Manager Tools and Career Tools for about a year now. I graduated with my BA in 2007 and will graduate with my MBA in Project Management this summer. I currently work for the American Cancer Society and manage the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event in Lansing, MI. I cannot express how much I appreciate all of these casts and the knowledge you are passing on! I am so grateful for finding this cast and learning these techniques early in my career- I'm a couple years older than 22, but not much! The Manager Tools casts have definitely helped me to become a more effective manager!

I have also been able to apply many of these casts, including the decision making cast, in my MBA program!

Thanks again,

Julie Graham