Decision Making - Head, Heart, & Values

When it comes to decision making, we can think too much, too little, too slowly, and/or too quickly. How will we know? The quality of our decision making will inform us in the ‘shoulda’ sort of fashion that only hindsight can provide. Ideally, we learn from the process and make better decisions in the future. I see it as making the best use of failures, while giving the successes their due too.

One of the most interesting courses I took was judgement and decision making. In a tidy short version, I would describe it as knowing what was at stake, choosing a process, and considering the impacts and timeframes. For example, some decisions are ‘easy’ if we really want them to be, when the stakes are low - like what to have for lunch, or when emotions rule, like whether or not to smile at a baby. When the stakes are higher, we are more likely to engage in a more considered, lengthy process; for example, what projects to pursue, what to charge clients, how to bundle services, whether/where to establish an office, and in these pandemic times, how will we meet our clients and their needs?

Paying attention to the process we use in decision making is a good start because often, we are unaware of the kind of thinking we need for decisions as our brains are built for efficiency. Daniel Kahneman and Malcolm Gladwell have both written on different kinds of thinking, but rather than go deeply into their ideas I’ll just summarize that we have nearly reflexive thinking in one brain region and more considered thinking in another. The praise for Kahneman’s work is contained in the following article from the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/feb/16/daniel-kahneman-thinking-fast-and-slow-tributes.

Whether or not we delve into the deep brain science is a matter of interest and choice; what is most relevant to me is that we gain awareness that our decisions come from different kinds of considerations, or lack of considerations. When we can build awareness of our own processes, we can become better decision makers. Recognizing that both making and not making decisions can create anxiety, trigger faulty logic based on a number of things (including toxically incorrect posts on social media), which can in turn default us to unhelpfully protective and automatic thinking to just ‘get on with it’ is valuable reflection. In learning and growth, it is so often more about the how and process of learning than it is about the factual tidbits we keep. How are we thinking about things? To what are we devoting our thoughts? How automatic are we being? What thought processes and conversations are best suited to which types of decisions?

A multitude of ways to access our thought processes exist, from sitting with one’s ideas for a bit, to discussing with a trusted friend or colleague, to consultants and counselors, to simply writing them down and thinking about the stakes for you and those around you. Lastly, I simply want to add that when our decisions are in keeping with our values the outcomes are always much easier to live with - whether they’re success or failures there are no perfect decisions, only imperfect ones that leave us with a chance to learn and apply that learning to the next decisions.

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Associated recommendations for folks who find this interesting and relevant to how they make decisions at work and in their personal lives:

Steven Pinker’s books How the Mind Works and The Language Instinct for intriguing looks into the way we think.

Piaget’s work on developmental stages for a look into brain and social development in children and adolescents for explanations of reasoning (spoiler? still developing until mid 20s), with an introductory summary at https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html that describes how we learn.

Lev Vygotsky’s take on learning as a social construct, also on simplypsychology.org, in conjunction with Piaget’s work. https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

Brene Brown’s work on the role of emotions and courage in leadership and personal life can be found widely from LinkedIn to print and audio media. Consider I Thought It Was Just me, Daring Greatly, Dare to Lead, The Gifts of Imperfection are a few I really found illuminating.

The revised hierarchy of needs Maslow himself wrote about later in life that details the self-actualization formerly ranked as the pinnacle is surpassed by interconnection, etc. as summarized in https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html for its impact on how decision making might be affected by needs being met, or unmet.