Cause and Consequence of Decision Making
The decisions a manager must make are often caused by prior planning and they have consequences that we may not have predicted. With retrospective analysis of both the situations that cause you to ‘have to make a decision’ and the consequence of the decisions you make, you can improve your capability to better lead teams to success. One of the best insights too deeply understand the cause and consequence of decision making is from the popular biography, Touching the Void by Joe Simpson.
Touching the Void is a mountaineering story about two friends who want to be the first to summit the West Face of the remote 21,000-foot Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. Their climbing story is so much more than a mountaineers adventure; it's a metaphor for life, and especially for business leaders. It's about being adaptive, intuition - the voices in our heads, friendship, decision making, preparation, planning, action taking, care-taking for yourself and for others, impacts (from all of the above), exploration and the importance of experimentation, importance of quality and being retrospective. Most of all it's a story about holistic agility; being present from the moment you have the idea, through every increment and continuously adapting till the end.
The critical pivot point of the story is the moment Simon Yates cuts the rope Joe Simpson is tethered too. Joe is hanging 100 feet inside what appeared to be a bottomless glacier in a snowstorm with a smashed leg, no way to climb out. Simon is frost bitten and being pulled to he’s death by the weight of Joe.
What decision do you make?
If you're Simon, do you cut the rope and save yourself?
If you’re Jo, do you cut the rope and save your friend?
How did these two experienced climbers put themselves in such a situation to cause this critical decision point? Regardless of the decision made there will be benefits and there will be consequences. Sounds like a normal day in management doesn’t it?
In Simon Yates book ‘Against the Wall’ he’s retrospective shines the light on how the ‘pivot decision’ was actually a consequence of poor preparation and planning:
“...without hesitation i removed the knife from the rucksack and cut the rope... only with hindsight could i see there had been a build up to that moment. During the days before we had many errors of judgement. We had not eaten nor drunk enough, and carried on climbing long after nightfall. By doing so we had allowed ourselves to become cold, exhausted and dehydrated."
Joe Simpson;
"Analysing after a climb what you do correctly or incorrectly is as important as being fit or talented.”
"Simon eventually pointed out to me where we had made our fatal mistake, and it had happened before we had left base camp. Gas, we hadn’t allowed ourselves enough gas to keep us adequately hydrated….to save weight we had only taken one canister…(Consequently) Our awareness that we were dehydrated had caused us to make decisions to carry on and so we lost control and nearly our lives.”
In business, managers are often forced to make on the spot decisions as a consequence of earlier strategic planning - “lose weight, go fast”. In business this can often translate to cutting resources; the payoff is immediate but the consequence is longterm. Often, this type of short term economic rationale is based on narrow determination of what success is. Going fast is a factor but it is not the determining factor for success; nor is it actually a determinate of time to done. The ability to adapt, and sustain effort throughout the entire climb was the real determiner for success.
Decision making always lists as one of the most critical skills of successful business leaders. From strategic planning to tactical product adjustments the practice of decision making is not only essential it is becoming more and more critical for businesses to be effective. Decisions must be informed, trusted, fast, continuous and of course as an agile business leader you must learn to lead collaborative decision making; not just because being inclusive of people in the team increases their fulfilment but because it gives you more data sources and real time risk scenarios being played out through conversation.
From this book of mountaineering metaphors there is quite a lot for us to discuss, debate and learn from. For now I’d like you to start to observe the causes and consequences of your decision making.
Are you;
Making decisions as a consequence of previous planning or poor preparation?
Do you value retrospective analysis as being as important as the expectation for your team to act on your decisions?
What is the measurable impact of your decisions in relation to a ’successful done'?
Are all your decisions made individually or do you make them collectively?
Image Source: https://www.armgeo.am/en/touching_the_void/