“Decision-making is not a quest for validation, it’s a quest for evaluation.”

This week, Mallory and Shawn are joined by Adam Lovill, VP of Customer Experience at Trainual, who dives into decision-making as a key part of driving success.

Adam pushes back on the strong, quick, aggressive decision-maker stereotype. Instead, he advocates dropping ego from the process, collaboration, and being supportive when things don’t work out as the key to making better decisions and accelerating progress.

Key Takeaways: 

• Strategic decision-making is just as much about deciding what NOT to do as it is about picking a course of action. But getting there requires deep curiosity and asking the right questions.
• Employees can only make the right decisions and get results when they have clarity on the company's direction. How do we all pull in the same direction and achieve the same goals? By making sure these goals are clearly communicated and frequently revisited.
• Decision-making is a process of continuous learning. Practice, experience and collaboration, when embraced company-wide, help improve decision quality over time. 

Chapter Markers

[2:37] The importance of decision-making at various levels within a company, and insights on becoming a better decision-maker.

[6:37] Creating a non-aggressive, collaborative environment to make well-thought-through decisions for the company.

[10:47] Different roles may require different advice for decision-making, with the main difference being the scale of the decisions and their impact.

[13:20] Understanding where you sit in three spheres of influence – awareness, influence, and control – and how this impacts your decision-making role.

[19:38] The power of good top-down strategy and focusing on single clear objectives that align with the company mission.

[24:21] Clear communication and transparency in decision-making ensure that all members of the team are aligned and empowered to question and challenge authority.

[27:25] Patience is crucial for making tough decisions, and the need for discipline and assessing the situation before making a quick call.

[34:19] Involve the right stakeholders in the decision-making process to get the team on board.

[40:11] Create a positive decision-making culture that brings the team together and accepts failure to make progress.

[45:15] Showcase the impact of good decision-making by choosing and telling the most important stories.

Resources

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This is one of a few podcasts from Trainual, a software platform that helps businesses build playbooks to train and grow their team. You can check out the rest of our shows here: https://trainual.com/category/podcasts