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Home / Decision Making: It’s Not What You ThinkDecision Making: It’s Not What You Think
Mintzberg, Henry
Sometimes we think too much about our decisions. Perhaps we would do better to see them more insightfully. Or just act on them in order to think about them better. This session contrasts "thinking first" with "seeing first" and "doing first" as approaches to decision making, using examples from finding a mate to handling decisions at work.
The objectives for this topic are to:
- Get beyond thinking in decision making to seeing and doing.
- Appreciate that we have to act in order to think, as much as think in order to act.
- Approach some key decisions differently.
Here's How it Works
Each CoachingOurselves topic is used by a team of 4-6 managers to guide a 90 minute discussion. Working through the topic one page at a time, the team reflects on their own experiences guided by the content, questions and exercises. There is no pre-work and no laptops, and the meetings are held anywhere managers normally hold work meetings.
"Experience is not enough. People may learn little from their experience unless they have a means for classifying and analyzing it" - Saul Alinsky
The management team begins by using a first topic with the support of a facilitator. They continue with or without the facilitator for the next 4-6 topics, bi-weekly or monthly, followed by a questionnaire to evaluate results and integrate learning. CoachingOurselves is used standalone, or included in broader initiatives to implement balanced 70-20-10 management learning programs.