Top Highlights

• Most executives think of decision making as a singular event that occurs at a particular point in time. In reality, though, decision making is a process fraught with power plays, politics, personal nuances, and institutional history. Leaders who recognize this make far better decisions than those who persevere in the fantasy that decisions are even...
• In our research, we’ve seen two broad approaches. Inquiry, which we prefer, is a very open process designed to generate multiple alternatives, foster the exchange of ideas, and produce a well-tested solution. Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t come easily or naturally to most people. Instead, groups charged with making a decision tend to default ...
• Advocacy Inquiry CONCEPT OF DECISION-MAKING a contest collaborative problem-solving PURPOSE OF DISCUSSION persuasion and lobbying testing and evaluation PARTICIPANTS’ ROLE spokespeople critical thinkers PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR strive to persuade others defend your position downplay weaknesses present balanced arguments remain open to alterna...
• Critical thinking and rigorous debate invariably lead to conflict. The good news is that conflict brings issues into focus, allowing leaders to make more informed choices. The bad news is that the wrong kind of conflict can derail the decision-making process altogether. Indeed, conflict comes in two forms—cognitive and affective.
• The challenge for leaders is to increase cognitive conflict while keeping affective conflict low—no mean feat

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