Bain Commentary: Decide and Deliver

One of the key attributes we look for in a prospective client is the ability to make good, quick decisions.  We have all been victims of analysis paralysis in organizations.  This leads to missed opportunities, cash flow burn, and has the “doers” in the organization looking for the exits.

Below is our summary of a recent Bain & Company report on decision making.  We are big fans of Bain and have written this executive summary to pass along the key insights.

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Everything a company is, from operations to the culture has to be aligned in a way that will promote smart decision making. These decisions not only need to benefit the individual or the client, but also have to contribute to the company’s bottom line. A company’s culture and mission statement is often the first thing employee’s reference when trying to decide how to decide.

So how do you restructure your business practices and processes to ensure the best decisions are made? Bain and Company’s “Decide and Deliver: 5 Steps to breakthrough performance in your company” provides some insight.

• Decisions determine performance. Your company has to make better decisions than competitors, make them faster and execute them more effectively.
• The people, the processes, the incentives, the culture and so on—must explicitly reinforce good, quick decision making and execution.
• Replace traditional questions about organizational change with questions focused squarely on decisions.
• Think about compensation with a focus on people making and executing the right decisions for the business.
• An organization’s leaders set the tone for handling decisions. Define the behaviors you want to see and support people as they adopt those behaviors.
• Though every high-performance culture has its own unique personality, all seem to encourage a remarkably similar set of behaviors—and all of those behaviors support decision effectiveness.
• A company that attacks its organizational weak spots will soon find that its decision making and execution improve significantly.

Structural change, resetting measures and incentives, establishing a clearer context for decisions and building a culture focused on national and international success is the key to unlocking profits. If your company needs restructuring, veer towards goals and processes that are decision-based to ensure you give your employees the tools to make things happen.

At Gray Suit Marketing, we know that success depends on the quality and speed of the decision making process.  We hope this summary guides your company in the right direction today.