Who are the Deciders?

In organisations, everyone who has some part in determining how the organisation takes advantage of its opportunities in order to pursue its Purpose is a Decider. Deciders are found throughout organisations, from top to bottom. They include directors, executives, managers and supervisors, and in the government sector, everyone from Prime Ministers to those at the work face developing policy and delivering services. At the personal level, everyone is a Decider in pursuit of their own well-being and that of their families.

Being a Decider is a tricky business. All Deciders face certain broad realities. Only by making decisions can an organisation pursue and realise its Purpose. And yet no decision can ever provide total certainty as to its immediate or ultimate effect. Not all decisions have equal importance. The decisions that Deciders make require sufficient certainty according to their importance.

It follows that the best Deciders are those who are always clear as to the higher Purpose of their organisation; who are able to test their tentative decision against that Purpose; who are ever mindful of uncertainty and therefore what is fact and what is assumption; who recognise the many forms of uncertainty in relation to each decision, including that the future may be very different to the present.

Good Deciders understand the many ways to reduce uncertainty, if that is required. They appreciate that there is often a trade-off between greater certainty and the costs of achieving this. They are mindful of the context in which they are making the decision and in which it will be implemented. They have an instinct to engage with others in the course of making decisions, to gain knowledge and create and test options.

Good Deciders understand that all Deciders use the same method. They recognise that decisions have primary and secondary components: those intended to deliver the desired outcome, and those that make it more likely that what is desired is what is achieved. The difference between a good Decider and a poor one is not intelligence or access to information. It is awareness of the method, and skill in applying it.