Discover the importance of organizational alignment and agility in this blog post. Learn how establishing a strong CORE and building a strategy around it can lead to sustainable growth and success. Find out how alignment and agility empower your organization to thrive in an ever-changing business landscape.

Boosting Common Sense Decision-Making in Your Organization
Improve Problem-Solving, Information Gathering, and Understanding Intent.
Introduction: The Need for Common Sense
Business leaders often question why employees or direct reports don’t use common sense in decision-making. To help people make better decisions, we must delve into three crucial areas: solving the right problem, gathering all the available information, and understanding the intent.
- Solving the Right Problem: The Art of Asking the Right Questions
To prevent solving the wrong problem, make sure to:
1.1 Define the problem yourself
- Don’t rely on someone else’s definition of the problem.
- Encourage team members to clarify their understanding of the issue.
1.2 Stay close to the problem
- Engage with those who have firsthand experience of the problem.
- Encourage open communication and feedback channels.
1.3 Think about the problem from multiple perspectives
- Foster a culture of collaboration and diverse thinking.
- Utilize brainstorming sessions and workshops to explore various angles.
- Having all the Available Information: Observing, Orienting, and Analyzing
To gather all available information, consider the following:
2.1 Move the decision-making to the information source
- Empower frontline employees to make decisions.
- Implement a decentralized decision-making structure.
2.2 Observe and orient using John Boyd’s OODA loop concept
2.2.1 Observe
- Continuously gather information to build a comprehensive picture.
- Encourage team members to ask questions to understand the issue better.
- Filter out the irrelevant “noise” to focus on critical data.
2.2.2 Orient
- Foster a culture of self-awareness and understanding of cognitive biases.
- Provide training and development opportunities to improve analytical skills.
- Encourage employees to develop mental models that help replace biases and assumptions.
- Knowing the “Intent”: Moving Beyond Rules to Foster a Purpose-Driven Culture
Rather than relying on specific rules, understanding the intent behind decisions promotes a broader understanding that helps employees make decisions aligned with the organization’s goals.
3.1 Establish clear organizational values and goals
- Communicate the company’s mission, vision, and values consistently.
- Develop a shared understanding of the organization’s strategic direction.
3.2 Promote a culture of trust and empowerment
- Encourage employees to take ownership of their decisions.
- Provide support and guidance while allowing for autonomy.
3.3 Develop guidelines and frameworks for decision-making
- Create decision-making frameworks that emphasize the organization’s intent and values.
- Offer tools and resources that help employees navigate complex decisions.
Conclusion: Achieving Organizational Clarity and Empowering Decision-Making
Ask yourself these questions to determine if your team is making common-sense decisions:
- Are they solving the right problem?
- Do they have all the available information?
- Do they know the intent, and is there organizational clarity?
If you find something missing in these areas, address it and empower your team to make better decisions. Embrace a culture of collaboration, open communication, and trust, and watch your organization’s decision-making processes improve.
Copyright (c) 2021, Marc A. Borrelli
Recent Posts
Align and Thrive: The Importance of Organizational Alignment and Agility
How to Achieve Smart Time Management: 10 Tips for Busy Professionals
When you are a busy professional running your own business, it can often feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything. Being strategic with your time is the best (and possibly the only) way to achieve all of your daily tasks. If you are...
5 Strategic Leadership Skills Every Manager Needs
So often, people view leadership as a talent: you’re either born with this quality or you’re not. However, this is not always the case! In reality, good leadership is made up of skills, and anyone can learn how to improve. Some people may pick up leadership attributes...
How the Sellability Score is Calculated: The Ultimate Guide
Do you have questions about how to calculate your business’s sellability score? Whether you’re looking to sell your business in the near future or years from now, understanding your sellability score will help you thrive. The sellability score identifies the...
The Top 5 Benefits of the Entrepreneurial Operating System
As an entrepreneur running your own business, you know there are bumps in the road and struggles that both you and your business will face over time. However, with the right people and tools at your disposal, you can anticipate what’s coming, plan for it, and continue...
5 Ways to Use Email Automation to Boost Traffic
Every single business in the world wants to evolve and grow. This will happen using a variety of techniques and strategies. In 2022, digital marketing is more than a household name, and most companies will adopt at least a few ideas when long-term planning and coming...
6 Questions To Ask A Potential Business Coach Before Hiring Them
Many entrepreneurs consider executive business coaching when they start struggling on their professional path. A small business coach is an experienced professional mentor who educates, supports, and motivates entrepreneurs. They will listen to your concerns, assess...
3 Ways Proper Long Term Strategic Planning Helps Your Business
Dreams turn into goals when they have a foundation of long-term strategic planning supporting them. They become reality when the ensuing strategic implementation plan is executed properly. With Kaizen Solutions as their strategic planning consultant, small and...
What is a Peer Group, and How Can it Improve Your Career?
If you are a CEO or key executive who has come to a crossroads or crisis in your career, you'll gain valuable insights and solutions from a peer group connection more than anywhere else. But what is a peer group, and how can that statement be made with so much...
Profit and Revenue are Lousy Core Values
As I mentioned last week, I am down with COVID and tired, so spending more time reading rather than working. I read Bill Browder's Freezing Order this weekend, and I highly recommend it. However, at the end of the book, Browder says that oligarchs, autocrats, and...