For most of us, there's a preferred process for making decisions: Define the problem, diagnose its causes, design possible solutions, and finally decide what's best.

But McGill University Professor Henry Mintzberg and the University of Waterloo's Frances Westley argue the "thinking first" model of decision-making needs to be supplemented by two very different models: "Seeing first" and "doing first."

Seeing first suggests that decisions -- or at least actions -- may be driven as much by what is seen as what is thought. Mozart could see the whole of a symphony in a single glance in his mind. Alexander Fleming saw the mould that had killed the bacteria in some of his research samples and that observation led to penicillin. Strategic vision often flows from seeing things that others can't envision. Sometimes understanding can be visual, as we see something in our mind's eye.

If you can't see, however, or think your way to a solution, you can always follow Nike, and just do it. When stymied, pragmatic people get on with it, believing if they do something the necessary thinking can follow. It's experimentation: Try something so that you can learn.

Think. See. Do. There are three ways to make decisions.

"Healthy organizations, like healthy people, have the capacity for all three; and when managers use all three, they can improve the quality of their decisions," the two professors write in Rotman Management.

Trust is the glue that holds us together. "Building an environment of trust is a leadership imperative," consultant Noreen Kelly writes in Executive Excellence.

To create a culture of trust, she says leaders need to be authentic, credible and display integrity in communications. To do that:

• Tell people what you know and what you don't know. Then tell them when you think you will know more, and get back to them with that information.


• Explain why you or the organization took a particular action, especially when communicating unpleasant or unwelcome information. If you don't do this, actions will be misinterpreted.


• Be consistent. Repeating key messages reinforces them. Make sure your actions also reinforce those messages. Mixed signals are perceived as lies.


• Don't try to "spin" bad news to make it look positive. People know when you're lying to them -- and they won't respect you for it. We handle the truth better than a lie or half-truth.

One of the constant bits of advice marketing consultant Drew McLellan gives clients is to stop trying to say too much when dealing with prospects. It's human nature: When in front of a prospect, we fear not getting the person's attention again and so we try to tell them everything and anything.

But he warns in The Marketing Minute "if your initial communication is so jammed with information and facts that they can't make their way through it, you won't get their attention again. And frankly, you don't deserve it."

Buying decisions are emotional. Customers have to like and trust you. And you create those emotional connections over time, patiently. Prospects should be learning new information with each meeting -- information that builds up into a story of why they should buy.

"If you are trying to drive one-time sales, then sure… cut to the chase. But if you want to create loyal, repeat customers, you need to let them get to know your product/service by telling them a little at a time, not sticking a fire hose in their mouth and hoping they can drink it all in one sitting," he concludes.

You can make your planning sessions shorter and more focused with three questions, according to Dan Bobinski on the Management Issues web site:

• What results do we want from this action? Is it a certain percentage of market share, or x dollars in sales? Identify the end result and don't talk about anything else until that's done. And be specific: What percentage of market share or exactly how many dollars?


• What must we do to achieve those results? If you're selling some new product, for example, you might need to identify the demographics of prospects, check trends, explore why people don't buy such products, and figure out how to address that problem.


• What knowledge, skills, or attitudes must we have or acquire to do those things? This focuses on what you need to learn or be concerned about.

"It's not rocket science, but the genius is its simplicity," he says.

• The most important thing in coaching your employees on performance is to spell out concrete next steps in vivid detail, says consultant Bruce Tulgan.
  (Source: www.rainmakerthinking.com)


• Consultant Donald Cooper recalls hearing an aphorism that "the world is run by people who follow up." That may not be completely true, but his surprising experiences with various businesses that failed to follow up on his interest in their products or services would suggest that not following up will cost you big time.
  (Source: The Donald Cooper Corporation Newsletter)


• If you could make one -- and only one -- phone call to move your career forward or arrange a single meeting to advance your career, who would it be with? And what would you say?
  (Source: Make It Happen Tipsheet)


• Realize that you can't control everything, and don't get upset about what you can't control.
  (Source: http://mapmaker.curtrosengren.com )


• Save time by using your keyboard in e-mail when in Microsoft Outlook. Use Ctr-N to start a new message or Ctr-R to reply to a message. When you're ready to send, it's Alt-s.
  (Source: Productivity Café blog)

That's a good question: We recently saw some statistics that indicated a typical strategy achieves only 60 per cent of its full potential -- so why do we so often come up short?

David Maister offers some helpful insights on that question in his intriguingly titled book, Strategy and the Fat Smoker; Doing What's Obvious But Not Easy.

What is very hard, Maister says, is actually doing what you know to be good for you in the long-run, in spite of short-run temptations. The same is true for organizations.

He notes that we often (or even usually) know what it is we should be doing. We also know why we should be doing it and, often, how to do it. As his title suggests, we may know that we should lose weight or stop smoking, understand the good health reasons why and even know how we'll go about it, perhaps using patches or fitness classes. When we come to taking action on these obvious strategies, however, we fall down.

Maister notes that most organizations tend to have similar strategies: provide outstanding client service, act like team players, provide a good place to work, invest in your future. Effective strategy lies not only in figuring out what to do, but in devising ways to ensure that we actually do more of what we know we should do.

• Preserving historical culture vs. changing culture to meet new challenges


• Rewarding emotion and excitement vs. logic and reasoning


• Placing more emphasis on external issues vs. internal concerns


• Confronting problems early, even if it's disruptive, vs. avoiding conflict


• Making decisions in a pragmatic vs. visionary style


• Basing decisions on ideology vs. a drive to get things done vs. getting things right.

So when you're ready to move forward -- once you have your strategy and know what you want to do, why and how -- concentrate on the hardest part of all strategy: pushing through the short-run bumps and hurdles to actually make it happen.

It was impressive to observe a moment of effective candour this past weekend. The executive officer of a leading public institution had just taken his Board of Trustees through a difficult and challenging discussion of financial strategy -- one that would involve a significant change in culture going forward.

When he finished, a board member questioned him about his plan to communicate the new direction, so it wouldn't be misinterpreted. "We hadn't thought about that," he said. "Your point is taken." And he visibly made a note of it. End of discussion.

It was easy to see why the board has such confidence in this executive. Given recent events, they probably knew there had been precious little time for his team to prepare a fully detailed roll-out plan, or that he didn't want to presume the board's decision in advance. But there were no excuses, no spinning, ducking and diving -- he gave them a brief, frank admission, an implied promise of action, and the kind of straight answer that builds trust. It was refreshing.

8020Info advises teams on effective communications and marketing strategies. We would be pleased to discuss your needs and welcome enquiries at (613) 542-8020, or by email at watercooler@8020info.com.

"Life is like a snowball. The important thing is finding wet snow and a really long hill."

   - Warren Buffett