{"id":76285,"date":"2022-08-28T13:44:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T17:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=76285"},"modified":"2022-09-07T11:44:43","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T15:44:43","slug":"decision-making-in-the-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/decision-making-in-the-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Improve Decision-Making in the Workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How are decisions made in your organization? Is it ever a good idea to let employees question the leader&#8217;s decisions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In most organizations, key decisions are made by team leaders and executed by lower-rank employees. Decisions made at the top are almost never questioned or scrutinized. According to Adam Grant, the author of <em>Think Again<\/em>, team leaders should not only share their decisions, but also the entire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/methods-of-decision-making-crucial-conversations\/\">decision-making<\/a> process they used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With this in mind, here&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-improve-decision-making\/\">how to improve decision-making<\/a> in the workplace by introducing transparency to the process.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-decision-making-process-in-the-workplace\"><strong>Decision-Making Process<\/strong> <strong>in the Workplace<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The decision-making process\u2014gathering data, generating ideas, and analyzing ideas\u2014is where you, as a leader, can most effectively effect positive changes in your organization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To improve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/organizational-decision-making\/\">decision-making in the workplace<\/a>, consider introducing transparency to the process: Instead of having team members share only their final <em>decisions<\/em>, they should share how they have come to those decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are several benefits of team members sharing their entire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/rational-decision-making-process\/\">decision-making process<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>A thorough explanation of the group\u2019s thinking helps the whole team understand how and why decisions were made. Those outside the process can point out possible weaknesses or alternate solutions.<\/li><li>When the decision-making process is communicated and fully documented, mistakes are less likely to be repeated in future iterations. Fully documenting the process can allow others to fix faulty underlying logic that may have contributed to an unsuccessful result.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>This way of making decisions and communicating the process prompts team members to think through new ideas, investigate the processes that generated those ideas, and analyze the conclusions. As we saw earlier in the guide, this can kickstart the Reconsideration Process because it encourages everyone to recognize what they don\u2019t know and begin to question prior assumptions.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Outcome Bias in Decision-Making<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Grant emphasizes the importance of <em>processes <\/em>(like the Reconsideration Process) over <em>outcomes<\/em>, but human beings are cognitively biased to focus on outcomes instead. Indeed, psychologists use the term \u201coutcome bias\u201d to describe the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alleydog.com\/glossary\/definition.php?term=Outcome+Bias\">tendency to evaluate decisions based on outcomes rather than processe<\/a>. <br><br>Criticism is often heaped upon the decision-maker when an outcome is negative, even if there are other uncontrollable factors involved. Similarly, positive outcomes are associated with wisdom and intelligence on the part of the decision-maker, even if there was a fair amount of luck and chance in play.&nbsp;<br><br>However, focusing on process does help you work against this cognitive bias\u2014leading to better awareness of <em>all <\/em>the elements involved in an outcome so that decision-makers can be accurately understood and assessed.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How are decisions made in your organization? Is it ever a good idea to let employees question the leader&#8217;s decisions? In most organizations, key decisions are made by team leaders and executed by lower-rank employees. Decisions made at the top are almost never questioned or scrutinized. According to Adam Grant, the author of Think Again, team leaders should not only share their decisions, but also the entire decision-making process they used. With this in mind, here&#8217;s how to improve decision-making in the workplace by introducing transparency to the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":73411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,30],"tags":[716],"class_list":["post-76285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-management","category-work","tag-think-again","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Improve Decision-Making in the Workplace - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The decision-making process is where you, as a leader, can make the most impactful changes in your workplace. Here are some tips to consider.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/decision-making-in-the-workplace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Improve Decision-Making in the Workplace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The decision-making process is where you, as a leader, can make the most impactful changes in your workplace. Here are some tips to consider.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/decision-making-in-the-workplace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-28T17:44:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-07T15:44:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/workplace-group-employees-meeting-discussion.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1746\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1152\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/decision-making-in-the-workplace\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/decision-making-in-the-workplace\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"How to Improve Decision-Making in the Workplace\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-28T17:44:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-07T15:44:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/decision-making-in-the-workplace\/\"},\"wordCount\":435,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/decision-making-in-the-workplace\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/workplace-group-employees-meeting-discussion.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Think Again\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Management\",\"Work\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/decision-making-in-the-workplace\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/decision-making-in-the-workplace\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/decision-making-in-the-workplace\/\",\"name\":\"How to Improve Decision-Making in the Workplace - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/decision-making-in-the-workplace\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/decision-making-in-the-workplace\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/workplace-group-employees-meeting-discussion.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-28T17:44:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-07T15:44:43+00:00\",\"description\":\"The decision-making process is where you, as a leader, can make the most impactful changes in your workplace. 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