Our Services
Explore our bespoke services and find out what works for you.
What Makes a Great Decision? Our Approach to Great Decision-Making
The most important thing to know about decision-making is this: we can never control the outcomes of any decision. We often judge a decision based on this, but that’s a trap. We can make a bad decision but via ‘dumb luck’ get a good outcome – leading to overconfidence and failed decisions later on. We can make a great decision but through ‘bad luck’ get a bad outcome, leading to timidness and anxiety, which affects our next decisions.
What can we do? We can make the best decision at the time we make by using a great process. We have developed our own method called
FOCUSTM which we apply to our work with clients. It is backed by science and allows you and your organisation to make great decisions, all the time. FOCUS stands for:
FOCUS
FRAMING
We help you frame your decisions to match with your values, purpose and goals. We also help you distinguish between simple decisions, which should be made quickly, and complex ones which should be made with more careful thought.
OPTIONS
We help you come up with the right amount of great options – not too many, not too few.
COGNITIVE BIASES (and other things that make us human)
We are all prone to cognitive biases and other flaws in thinking, no matter how smart we are. Our physical and emotional states also affect how we make decisions. We help you spot these things and overcome them. We inject some contrarian thinking that will give you and edge.
UNCERTAINTY
Nothing is certain, and especially now. Great decision-makers understand that and lean into uncertainty. We help you understand the key uncertainties that could stand in the way of a great outcome.
SELECTION
We help you select the best path forward and to set up implementation of that path for success.
Contact us to learn more and grab our free primer on making great decisions
How It Works
For Individuals
We can help if you might be….
- A leader in an organisation and have a significant professional decision to make – for instance, a key hire
- Wanting some help on a major upcoming life decision – for instance, a life change, a career change, a big investment and want some guidance and/or someone in your corner
- Wanting to get better a decision-making more generally
- Looking for something new and a little different because existing decision-making tools, processes or models have made you confused or are just not practical
If so, you have come to the right place. We can help you feel more capable, confident and calm about decisions – and get better results. The Decision-Making Studio can help by our two main approaches (see more below):
- One-Off Decision Navigation – Tailored direction on a specific big decision you want or need to make;
- Decision Compass – Training and support in our proven decision-making method so that you can make great decisions all the time.
Curious? Contact us for a free chat.
For Organisations
We can help if your organisation might be…
- Facing an important decision or decisions it needs to make – for instance, a major capex or opex investment, an important product launch, or something else in which the stakes are high and it needs to do everything possible to get it right
- Looking for a performance edge – for instance, by operating more efficiently or effectively by ensuring your people make the right decisions, all the time
- Struggling to bring a number of important processes and approaches that involve people making recurring decisions ‘to life’ – for example, risk management, compliance, cyber security, or health and safety
- Facing a number of external uncertainties (e.g. geopolitics, climate change, stakeholder perception, AI) and not sure what decisions they may require, or even how to approach these things
- Looking to improve how decisions get made especially amongst teams that have differing decision-making styles, capabilities or authorities?
If yes, then the Decision-Making Studio can help. Our methods provide organisations with greater clarity and ultimately, better performance. Our two main approaches fit well organisations (see below for more):
- One-off Decision Navigation: This is our method to help your organisation steer through a large, high-stakes single decision. It involves applying our FOCUS principles to your decision
- Decision Compass: This is our approach to helping organisations embed great decision-making into what they do.
One-Off Decision Navigation
What it is
Decision Navigation works for both individuals and organisations and typically:
- We walk through your decision with you and your team (if applicable) – We ask you some questions you may not have considered, we see how and if your decision is connected to your purpose, and we apply our FOCUS method to help you discover options you haven’t considered, pick out biases, assumptions and uncertainties, help you understand the likelihood of success, and ultimately decide;
- We challenge you – We will bring some contrarian thinking and possibly, use a number of specific tools (like scenarios or uncertainty analysis), and generate insights you haven’t considered. The result is the highest-quality decision possible;
- We set you up for success – Once you decide, we will help you get going so that you are able to follow your chosen path;
- We give you a sense of calm and confidence – No one can guarantee success, but working with us will give you a sense of calm and confidence that you have chosen the best possible path. Given the uncertainties we all face, that is worth a lot;
- Our support can be straightforward or more involved – You might only need a “devil’s advocate” to ask you some challenging questions over a very short engagement. Or, particularly for an organisation, you might want us to be a core part of the decision-making team over the course of a few weeks.
Contact us for a free consultation and for our primer on decision-making.
Decision Compass
What it is
For Individuals
- Training – Individualised training on quality decision-making, using the FOCUS method. We will teach you how to make and spot great decisions;
- Coaching – Regular one-to-one coaching on decision-making using the FOCUS method. This is a great option if you are a leader in an organisation and regularly make important decisions. We can work with you over a defined period of time
For Organisations
- Training – For your teams via workshops and interactive sessions;
- Speaking – Keynote presentations and other types of speaking engagements at conferences, offsites or other events
- Specific modules:
- Portfolio Optimisation – Design or re-design of your organisation’s processes to make key decisions across its portfolio of ‘big bets’ (typically capex projects) – to increase the overall portfolio return;
- Smart Decisions by Design – Embed great decision-making into the design of operations – including cyber security, supply chains and related areas to better account for uncertainty and improve performance;
Contact us for a free consultation and for our primer on decision-making.
