Economy & Credit Chest

Of course in some situations it may not be practical or wise to involve everyone in the internal assessment from the start. One strategy I use is to involve different groups at different stages. You may start with key leadership and then, once you have their commitment, begin to move down the organization. As you assess various areas of the organization, you begin to involve those people in the assessment. As you do, be sure to communicate clearly the purpose and scope of the assessment to alleviate fears.

While you may not be able to involve everyone, it’s essential to communicate information about the assessment to people inside the organization. Tell them what you know, what you are doing, and why. Be as honest and open as you can. It’s a great first step in moving along the Partnership Continuum and increasing your Partnering Intelligence.

The success or failure of a decision frequently depends on the delegation process. Empowerment, which is discussed below, goes beyond the delegation of specific tasks. It involves granting a defined level of authority and responsibility within which someone makes their own decisions and implements them.

There are several stages in the delegation process.

Preparing to delegate. Some preparation and planning are always needed, perhaps limited to gaining the approval of others or simply informing people. Priorities may also need to be considered. Most of all, you should be clear about the reasons for delegation and what it is meant to achieve. This requires a focus on results and having clear, precise objectives.

Matching person and task. The person who is required to do the job must understand it and have the personal skills and competence to have a realistic chance of doing it successfully.

Discussing and agreeing objectives. Targets, resources, review times and deadlines should be discussed with the delegatee and agreed. It may be necessary to formalise the process in writing in order to avoid, or at least minimise, any misunderstanding.

Providing resources and the appropriate level of authority. When delegating work, it is imperative to provide the delegatee with the necessary resources as well as the authority to complete the task, and then to provide support when needed.

A natural tendency to evaluate the present or focus on the immediate decision should be tempered with a sense of perspective and the past. As discussed previously, you need to avoid misinterpreting the lessons of the past or using events to justify current decisions but with a spurious logic. The anchoring, sunk-cost and confirming evidence traps are all behavioural flaws that rely on specific attitudes to past events. A genuine understanding of the past is crucial, but it needs to be related to what is happening in the present and kept in perspective. As Julian Barbour, a theoretical physicist, says:

The higher we climb, the more comprehensive the view. Each new vantage point yields a better understanding of the interconnection of things. What is more, gradual accumulation of understanding is punctuated by sudden and startling enlargements of the horizon, as when we reach the brow of a hill and see things never conceived of in the ascent. Once we have found our bearings in the new landscape, our path to the most recently attained summit is laid bare and takes its honourable place in the new world.

Scenario thinking, and in particular the notion of the strategic conversation described by Kees van der Heijden, enables us to build our knowledge and understanding of the past and present, making connections and creating original insights that inform our decisions.

Many people have trouble in coming up with new ideas or solutions to a problem. The answer often lies in fostering innovation, by creating the right conditions to be innovative or simply to see the best way forward. If this is to work and be sustainable, the climate for decision-making must be as positive, open and encouraging as possible. Linked with this is the need for people to feel valued. If they do not, there is a risk that they will be negative about the change, reactive rather than proactive.

Or they may decide to leave. One way of fostering innovation is to encourage employees to question the way things are done or decisions that have been made. Removing or minimising barriers (such as bureaucracy and hierarchy) can drive innovation, and so can an ability to exert mild pressure, perhaps by setting deadlines. Techniques that help spur creativity and innovation include brainstorming and mind mapping, as they help individuals to come up with ideas and to see patterns or organise information in such a way that patterns and ideas develop.