Playing the simulations in teams allows for the multi-stakeholder aspect of these decisions to be experienced with each team reporting to a 'CEO in the sim' and team members playing different team roles with conflict already baked in to their functional objectives.Įach of our portfolio of business simulations addresses all 3 types of decision - this is by design and reflects the real world.

Functional heads (with potentially conflicting goals such as Sales versus Production)įacilitated team-based business simulations can be a very efficient and effective way to improve critical decision-making skills as leaders (and emerging leaders) encounter realistic business scenarios in an environment which have no consequences if got wrong - definitely not FiW!.

Members of your own leadership team (each with different perspectives, priorities and backgrounds).

Senior Leaders (whose departments will be impacted by the decision).

The figure below shows each type of decision as a corner of a triangle which you can map a particular decision onto.įigure: Executive Decision Fingerprint Diagramįor example, that cruise ship values trade-off example might also have a resource-trade-off rolled into it around how you deploy already over-stretched members of crew on this issue.įiW Decisions may involve multiple 'Stakeholders'Īnother factor which can make these decisions tricky is that there can be many stakeholders - each with their own view on what is right from their perspective. Sadly it does not usually work out like that. Life would be a lot simpler as a leader if each of our critical decisions fitted neatly into one category or another. Good leaders repay these debts as quickly as possible – weak leaders build up “bad debts” in certain values which eventually come back in a way which can be no longer ignored and can have seriously consequences.įiW Decisions often have composite “Fingerprints” This results in leaders accumulating debts – in this case you are now in debt to crew morale. Often crew morale gets sacrificed to address unexpected issues in guest satisfaction. Here’s an example – imagine a Cruise ship – a central dilemma is between Guest Satisfaction and Crew Morale. Will it be market share or profit?Ī dilemma decision is also a trade-off but between values rather than resources. However in a depressed market a good leader may have to make a straight choice of where to put their sales and marketing investments. New customers enhance market share but may not be as profitable as existing loyal customers. Here’s a great example – market share and profit in a business. A weak leader often denies the reality of the trade-off and tries to do both things anyway. So you have to make a choice – a trade-off. A resource trade-off is where you want to do two things at the same time but do not have sufficient resources. It is true that a poor strategy is a bad decision but it may do little organisation damage as it may often be operationally ignored in practice! However the poor implementation of a good strategy represents either a major problem or a missed opportunity to an organisation.Īll leaders have finite resources (people, money, assets, customers, channels, partners, goodwill, reputation, access and relationships) at their disposal. Many books have been written on this single topic. It’s such a big problem in organizations it has its own name – “The Execution Problem”. This is about ensuring your actions align with your chosen strategy.

However it’s the other 1% (extreme weather, passenger incidents, crew illness, unexpected diversions and other emergencies) which can be FiW (Fatal if Wrong) which justify the extra cost of having a highly experienced pilot in charge.That’s where the captain earns the big bucks - the 1% not the 99%!

Think of flying out with your family on holiday.ĩ9% of the captain’s decisions could equally well be made and executed by a newly qualified pilot (or autopilot). No leader gets them right all the time but if you are getting more right than you are getting wrong you will be performing strongly as a leader! As a leader there are 3 types of decision which you must get right most of the time.

Executive decisions