Leaders as Decision Architects

Every humane working in an organization makes mistakes whether by miscalculating the

time required to complete the task or by ignoring the information that may reveal the flaws in the
company’s structure. The solution to this problem is to change the environment in which the
decisions are being made and encouraging the good decisions.

The author suggests an ideal approach to deal with the mistakes in five steps. 1. Understanding
the nature of mistake 2. Determining the cause whether it happened due to the poor decision
making. 3. Identifying the specific reasons. 4. Developing the strategies to improve the decision
making. 5. Intensely following the solutions.

Understand How Decisions Are Made

It is human nature to make the decisions either based on emotions and instincts or backed by
logic. The first approach is easy and quick but can easily misguide. The second strategy of
making the decision is slow, based on analysis and deliberation but more accurate.

Diagnose Underlying Causes

The author divides the poor decision making into two categories: lack of motivation and
systematic errors. The first is the problem of the person it self while the second one is the flaw in
the company’s structure.

Diagnose Underlying Causes

When the actual cause of the mistake is identified, the companies can start to look for the
solutions. The main idea should be to improve the decision making of the individual by making
alterations in the structure. E.g. Google started to encourage the employs to eat healthier food.

Inspire broader thinking.

Our common approach to a problem is “What should I do” while the better approach is to say “
What could I do”. The second approach allows us think of more alternatives and to find a more
suitable solution.
Test the Solution

The final step is to test the outcome and determine whether we achieved the goal we wanted to
achieve. This type of follow-up can keep us from making costly mistakes and lead us to better
decision making.