Good Decisions Come From Experience

….and experience comes from bad decisions.  A bad decision is a result of a try & error event.

Now that sounds quite logical and easily spoken but these are the answers of a wise man or woman  who speaks to an interested kid which keeps questioning.  Experience and bad decisions are an important part of sharpening our judgement.  When we decide we effect our real world.  We look out to not damage too much of what we have and use as an in-put for the potential win.

But life is not an abstract event of premortem tries and wins because our insightful reasons why this project might go south or win will exactly follow the path of our wishful thinking.

The biggest handicap we take into our decision making process is that we lack information and pretend it will turn out “this way”.  There are two factors which carry a great potential of such lack of information:  the people we hire (our staff) and the reaction of the (global) market to our product.  Both first have to run through a test-phase before the main decider of any company, small or big, will say “yes”.

The individual has to fit to a certain educational category (criteria list) and then has to double fit into the team and its members (!), and still we don´t know if it´s going to work well from day one on.  The body language (incl. voice) gives the last in-put to the relevant decider who will notice and respond to the body language of the interviewed personality.  The result will be a “yes” or a clear “no”.

But is that the ultimate decision for the individual?  No.  The one who is in charge of allocating the resources your team holds is the customer!  He who holds the Gold, makes the rules.  So, did you ever talk with the customer(s) about how well your team does?  Maybe it´s time – 

The new product has to undergo “some” design-phases, “some” material testings, the benefit criteria for the customer and it shall meet a certain cost-level.  Easy decisions?  No, not at all.  This is a long-term process and creates many processes!

When I was employed in the German Automotive Supplier Chain I learned from the Brake-Dept. that developing, producing, testing and offering a prototype to the customer consumes up to 3-5 years in total.  Brakes are important safety-products and these products get a lot of attention!

Sometimes it´s not the decisions you make at the end of the day or at the end of the scale that need a maximum of attention.  Sometimes it´s the processes you have to set-up and connect with one another which tell you how much time and cost will be consumed before you get a result in your hands.  This determinator needs to be clear and implemented into your organization.  And a running process is the positive end result of a long road of try & errors.

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BE OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect –