Volume 5, Issue 1 - January, 2006

• The Taking Aim Decision-Making Process
The Taking Aim newsletter is devoted to management issues and as organizations strive to become more agile and responsive in this changing market, there is a growing awareness that decision-making must improve especially as more and more decisions are pushed down the organization. The searchable index at www.cannonadvantage.com/newsletter.html has a variety of articles about decision-making and specifically the traditional method of decision-making and its inherent flaws.

This is an area of great interest for me and lately I have been thinking about how best to explain the difference between the traditional method and the new Taking Aim Decision-Making Process. Because most strategy books have a military bent, I too have chosen a military analogy to explain the difference in approach.

In the traditional approach to decision-making, we define the problem, layout the alternatives, choose from the alternatives and execute. This is like the old style bombing run where each alternative is an individual bomb. The pilot flies toward the target and the bombardier makes calculations regarding speed, altitude and wind to determine when to start dropping the bombs. Multiple bombs are dropped to try and bracket the target. Some land in front of the target, some behind and if everything goes right one or more will hit the target. It would be very difficult indeed to pick one bomb (alternative) and have it successfully hit the target. Few if any organizations today find it practical to use multiple bombs / alternatives to achieve positive results.

The Taking Aim Decision-Making Process is more like the smart bomb we have seen being used in Afghanistan and Iraq. This process is like the single bomb that is guided to its target and usually achieves its objective with little or no collateral damage. Given that organizations only get one shot at a successful decision, it only makes sense to me that that shot be a smart decision that is guided to its target.

This guided process is based on the Peter Drucker quote that, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” This truth also applies to decision-making. Decision-making is not a problem solving activity, but rather it should be an exercise in the construction of a preferred future.

In this age of measuring for continuous improvement, much has been written about businesses getting results according to what they define and measure. Since it has been determined that we move toward that which we define, what better way to make decisions than to define the desired result and implement. Our Taking Aim Decision-Making Process uses Appreciative Inquiry principles to build a better decision-making approach.

Step 1. Marshall your Resources.
All too frequently decisions are made by a relatively small number of people with limited perspectives. In the Taking Aim Process, we encourage gathering as much input from as many perspectives as possible. For example, if we are making a decision about a product, we would want to include the perspectives of the engineering, accounting, production, marketing, sales, wholesalers, retailers and end consumers. We might even want to include an OSHA perspective or an EPA perspective as well. If possible, we want to include perspectives from all different stakeholders.

We begin by inquiring about the best of what has been and what currently is, the successes, the things that have been done well and that people felt good about. We want people to share stories of exceptional accomplishments, discuss the positive factors and think about the aspects of past successes that they most want to bring to future decisions. This sets up a positive attitude that is so critical to success in any endeavor.

Step 2. Ready.
Once again we call on stakeholders to provide perspectives of what the perfect or desired future might be. Our Step 2 builds on what was done in step 1 and the images of the future that emerge are examples based on the positive past. Stakeholders engage in possibility conversations about the potential future outcome. What are the possibilities both obvious and hidden? We keep inquiring to get the most complete picture of this desired future and thereby help to answer the question of why we want this particular outcome. This is the step where stakeholders are encouraged to go beyond what they thought was possible.

Step 3. Aim.
This step involves designing the desired outcome so that everything about implementation is responsive to the desired outcome. As an example, if the decision is to fire our cannon at a specific target, we will have to determine direction, distance, trajectory, windage, type of shell and amount of powder. This is the step where details of the execution are determined.

Step 4. Fire.
This is the step where the decision is executed. Because the stakeholders have been involved in the process, there will be greater alignment behind the decision and greater accountability. Because they know and understand the why, there will be more rapid improvisation when needed to keep the decision moving toward the desired outcome.

One of the unique aspects of the Taking Aim approach to decision-making is that the “Fire” or execution stage is like a smart bomb adjusting as it moves towards its target. Decisions that are made with the involvement of the people executing the decision provides those people with the why of the decision, thereby empowering them to make mid course adjustments to reach the desired outcome.

While this is very simple on the surface, there is much behind this approach that I will reveal in future articles.

If you have a subject that you would like to see covered in future issues of “Taking Aim,” please send me an email at aim@CannonAdvantage.com.

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Robert E. Cannon
Management Consultant
13985 Aquilla Road
Burton, OH 44021 USA
866.598.8450 phone/v-mail
440.834.1052 facsimile

aim@cannonadvantage.com


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Smart Thoughts from Smart People –

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Arthur Ashe

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Charles M. Schwab

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