Top 10 Ways to Make a Bad Decision

I'm usually a positive thinker, but I've observed that many leaders have an easier time committing to real change when there is a clear disadvantage to the status quo.  In that spirit, here's a quick Top 10 covering sure-fire ways to make a poor decision in your organization.  Have you seen others?  Share your comments and stories about what you have experienced.

10.  Make a decision based on money and time you've already spent.

9.    Play up information that confirms your current point of view.

8.    Ignore information that doesn't.

7.    Pay too much attention to the first thing you hear, or the first data you receive.

6.    Frame a decision only on the benefits OR risks, but not both.

5.    Wear rose-colored glasses when you are estimating the results.

4.    Wear doom-colored glasses when you are estimating the results.

3.    Believe that your "gut" is the smartest person in the room.  Corollary: Justify every decision with a quote by Malcolm Gladwell.

2.   Use nothing but data.

1.   Don't use data at all.

"Lean Won't Work Here" -- Post by Mark Graban of Lean Blog

This morning I ran across this excellent post by Mark Graban on Lean Blog that walks through a short history of how organizations have crafted various reasons for why Lean won't work for them. He starts with the automotive industry and ends with health care - but in each case, the industry leaders adopt lean and the laggards fall behind. Each justification for resistance begins with "we're different . . . . ".

Big Sky uses lean principles for many of our clients, but we too have found that there is significant resistance to overt Lean or Six Sigma projects. Many clients are turned off by what I would call "true believers" -- practitioners who are unwilling to let go of by-the-book implementations of lean or six sigma methodology. The practicioners' or consultants unwillingness to be flexible or adapt their approach to the unique client situation dooms adoption of lean in the organization and everyone suffers are a result.

The bottom line, however, is that I have yet to find a process in any organization that couldn't be improved using at least some of the Lean or Six Sigma toolkit. Every client and every organization really is different -- but that doesn't mean that Lean/Six won't work. It does mean that Lean and Six Sigma must be applied differently. The real finesse comes with educating the organization in a way that isn't threatening or dogmatic, but brings them along at just the right pace.

Thanks to Mark and Lean Blog for a great post that I will surely be sharing with many of my clients.

Decision Traps and Ponzi Schemes

We have received great feedback from our readers on our series on decision traps, and they are also among our most read articles on this blog.  I ran accross an article today that discusses the real-world consequences of those traps: the $50B Ponzi scheme orchestrated by the former head of the NASDAQ.  For those of you who think that some people are too smart to fall into those traps, read this great analysis by Ken Hoffberg.   

To paraphrase Ken, the scheme demonstrates at least two of the traps covered in this blog:

• The Confirming Evidence Trap
• The Anchoring Trap

Read for yourself, and assess where you might be falling into decision traps.