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Maybe a part of the reason for the success of this book can be found in an October 2004 report from Teradata, a division of NCR Corporation. That report proclaims that, “Business decision-making is in crisis. The overwhelming majority of respondents, more than 70 percent, say that poor decision-making is a serious problem for business. The top casualties of poor decision-making are profits, company reputation, long-term growth, employee morale, productivity and revenue.” A decision-making book that didn’t make the Best Seller List is Why Decisions Fail, by Paul C. Nutt. In his book, Nutt explains the magnitude of the problem when he writes, “decisions fail half of the time.” If “decisions fail half of the time,” negatively affecting profits, growth, morale, productivity and revenues, the evidence would seem to indicate that interest in Decision- Making may be reaching the Tipping Point where it will become the hot new topic in business. Just think about the competitive advantage an organization could gain if they could improve their success rate to even 75% while their competition was still at 50%. There is also growing evidence that making decisions is becoming even more difficult. J. Edward Russo and Paul J. H. Schoemaker in their book Winning Decisions, point out that we are inundated with information, facing rapid change and rising uncertainty. We have few historical precedents, more frequent decisions, more important decisions, conflicting goals, more opportunities for miscommunication, fewer opportunities to correct mistakes and higher stakes. All this is contributing to even more difficult decision-making. It would appear that our existing methods for making decisions are inadequate in today’s fast paced, techno enhanced, highly competitive world and the time is right for a new approach that facilitates better decisions…faster. The question facing us then is, To Blink or not to Blink, that is the question. Does Gladwell have a better solution? In Blink, Gladwell mixes scientific research with idealism to suggest that intuition is often superior to reasoned thinking. Richard A. Posner, judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, suggests that there are two types of thinking. One is intuition or hunches, snap judgments, emotional reactions, and first impressions--in short, instant responses to sensations. The second type of thinking is reasoned or articulate and is the domain of logic, deliberation, reasoned discussion, and scientific method. Reasoned or articulate thinking is the model of rationality, while intuitive thinking is often seen as primitive. There are numerous examples in Blink of what, on the surface, might appear to be intuitive thinking. Posner on the other hand suggests that there are many instances when the answer appears in a flash like intuition, but are in fact are the result of deliberative processes that have become unconscious simply by becoming habitual. Gladwell and Posner agree that we are drowning in information. They also agree on unconscious cognition regardless of whether from intuition or experience and habit. Most importantly, they have both created more awareness of the real problem – the need for an approach to decision-making with improved results.
Guest post written by Stuart Ngai, Director of Technology Solutions, VERAX
It’s an investment that pays off Sure, everyone is very busy these days. And most IT managers have long days in addition to the constant bombardment of mobile messages. However, if you neglect to put a good effort to nurture your IT staff, it will come back to bite you in the form of low employee morale, low productivity, high turnover, and lack of innovation to name a few. Thus, preventive steps on a consistent basis is essential to keep a healthy workforce working for you. So take the time to nurture your valuable IT staff. Upper management buy-in is a must Now that you’ve been reminded of the importance of nurturing your staff, is that enough? My experience tells me that unless you also get your boss to recognize and help drive this important aspect of being a manager, it might be an uphill battle you’ll be taking all on your own shoulders. So do spend time to keep the benefits of training front and center with your boss amongst many “must do’s”. Having well trained IT staff will not only benefit both you and your boss in achieving and exceeding your deliverable objectives while creating a great work environment for all. The 10% allocation rule So you and your boss are persuaded. But how much should be set aside for investing in people without affecting your capacity to deliver? Well, many IT businesses tend to be cyclical and you should definitely take advantage of the downtime for training. But by default, use the 10% time allocation rule over the course of the year to ensure reasonable time is dedicated for your IT staff to up keep their skills. Now, that doesn’t directly translate to a 10% reduction in productivity. There are a number of ways you can afford to keep with the 10% rule without breaking your bank. So read on. Know strategic directions for your company and industry Great, your boss is on board and you’ve set a budget aside. What’s next? Well, just like you don’t get on a highway before deciding where you are going, you need to know the strategic focus of your company and trends in your industry before you start planning with your staff. As an example, I recently purchased a state of the art, air-thin laptop for my son for his university study away from home even though I know it doesn’t run all the fancy shooting games that he loves on his desktop at home. As a result, he now has a sleek laptop that’s the envy of his friends while he’s getting top marks because he doesn’t waste hours shooting at colourful pixels. Mean dad you say; may be. But he ends up ahead with his leading edge gadget while happy getting top marks in university – just have to borrow his friends’ clunky desktops for the occasional thrills. Likewise, as an IT manager, you need to know what’s good for your company and where the industry is heading before entertaining any training requests. Listen to your staff Now you are aware of the direction of your company and industry. Time to sit down with your staff to listen. Knowing everyone’s different, you definitely need to spend time listening carefully to the areas that they feel they need to beef up while you let them know the direction that’s important for your company and what you see as the important trends in your industry. Help them focus on some concrete and measureable goals so as to keep a focus on the objectives. Do encourage creativity from your staff in terms of learning style so to maximize the benefits based on your budget. To be continued next Monday. Share Your Thoughts How do you go about planning and managing training for your staff? Do you have any pointers or advice for others? Join the conversation in the AlignIT for Infrastructure and Development Managers group on LinkedIn. Stuart Ngai
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Stuart Ngai, Director of Technology Solutions at