A TALK ON DECISION-MAKING
Rational people, irrational decisions.
Before you decide, ask yourself whether you are looking for an answer or just confirmation that you are right.
You have the data, the experience and the arguments. The decision seems obvious. But are you really testing it, or collecting evidence that you were right all along?
Pressure to deliver, ambition and past commitment can make it difficult to change our minds. Inconvenient information is easy to dismiss. Admitting that the chosen path will not take us where we wanted can be harder than continuing to invest time and money in it.
I speak as a business practitioner, trainer and consultant. I show how pressure for results, the need for certainty and attachment to our own ideas can cloud our judgement. Knowledge and experience do not remove the need to test our assumptions.
I examine how we make decisions in organisations: who can raise a concern, what we do not want to hear and when attachment to an earlier choice starts to replace an honest assessment of the situation.
What will
participants take away?
- How to recognise when you are defending a decision instead of reassessing it.
- How to ask for information that might challenge your assumptions.
- How to make room for a different opinion before the consequences become costly.
WHO IT IS FOR
Boards, managers, entrepreneurs and teams making important business decisions.
WHERE
Conferences, board and project team meetings, and events on management, strategy and responsibility.
FORMAT
30 or 45 minutes, with an optional discussion. We adapt the focus to your event programme.
What would I need to hear to change my mind?
Ask about this talk