The ability to make sensible decisions in business is central, with clear implications for a company’s reputation, profit, productivity and sustainability. Decisions require a clear objective and a thorough understanding so that the decision-maker can view the issue at hand in context and be able to identify available options. So armed, thoughts can then focus on decision impact and support to implementation.
This is all pretty straightforward stuff maybe. Until perhaps you look at some courses of action taken by large businesses in the recent past –
- The handling by Thomas Cook of the tragic death through gas poisoning in Corfu of the two British children.
- The Minas Rios mining venture in Brazil by Anglo-American, who have faced massive write-downs on the project due to licensing delays and still have some way to go before full production.
- The Deepwater Horizon oil spill from a BP rig in the Gulf of Mexico and the subsequent public relations disaster during the repair and clean-up operation.
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These could have been due to unclear business objectives or the plan being implemented badly, but they look more like decisions taken intuitively; made without a clear idea of what was going on or what the impact was likely to be. These incidents seem to have missed out a large part of the decision-making process and have failed to understand their operating environment.
You are right though, this is, of course, all incredibly easy to see in hindsight and really unfair on the people trying to handle those very difficult situations. Fair point…
But the value, to my mind though, is these examples spur us on to have much better informed decision-making going forward. Such dire consequences are the best incentive for taking more care to appreciate the consequences of our future decisions.
We need to agree that all decisions are based on information, and that it follows the better the
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information will likely mean a better outcome. Good information is certainly the right way to start, but we could take this idea one step further by being receptive to the idea that the best information can be enhanced even more, as we believe in the intelligence world, through the application of critical thinking and analysis.
Applying the principles of intelligence analysis and assessment to transform information into intelligence will ensure the output is accurate, relevant, quantifiable and actionable. All qualities designed to make life easier and more effective for the decision-maker.
This is not a simple process and will require specific expertise in intelligence work, much in the same way as you employ specialists in marketing, IT, finance and most other departments… But it is worth consideration so as to be better informed next time.