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Decision-Making Strategies

Jeff Lash recently linked to a page from Marie McIntyre on decision-making strategies.

McIntyre argues that the decision-making strategy you use should depend on factors such as:
  1. Availability of information.
  2. Superiority of one decision.
  3. Acceptance of the decision by others.
  4. Amount of time to decide.
Jeff already covered them in his entry, but the different strategies are:
  1. Make the decision by yourself.
  2. Get information from others, then decide by yourself.
  3. Before deciding, consult with others one-on-one to get their views.
  4. Before deciding, have a group discussion to explore options.
  5. Ask the group to reach a consensus independently.
Notwithstanding the point that the best strategy depends on the circumstances, I have found the third strategy to be under-utilitized and underrated. One-on-one consultation is a powerful facilitation technique. Group discussions can be helpful, but the likelihood of miscommunication is exponentially greater than for a series of one-on-one discussions, often rendering one-on-one discussions more efficient.

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