Harvard Business Review - HBR Guide to Making Better Decisions

Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, from the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.

HBR Guide for Women at Work

HBR Guide to Being More Productive

HBR Guide to Better Business Writing

HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case

HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business

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HBR Guide to Data Analytics Basics for Managers

HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict

HBR Guide to Delivering Effective Feedback

HBR Guide to Emotional Intelligence

HBR Guide to Finance Basics for Managers

HBR Guide to Getting the Mentoring You Need

HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done

HBR Guide to Leading Teams

HBR Guide to Making Better Decisions

HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter

HBR Guide to Managing Strategic Initiatives

HBR Guide to Managing Stress at Work

HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across

HBR Guide to Motivating People

HBR Guide to Negotiating

HBR Guide to Networking

HBR Guide to Office Politics

HBR Guide to Performance Management

HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations

HBR Guide to Project Management

HBR Guide to Setting Your Strategy

HBR Guide to Thinking Strategically

HBR Guide to Work-Life Balance

HBR Guide to Your Professional Growth

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Title: HBR guide to making better decisions.

Other titles: Harvard Business Review guide to making better decisions | Harvard business review guides.

Description: Boston, Massachusetts : Harvard Business Review Press, [2020] | Series: Harvard Business Review guides | Includes index. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2019029435 | ISBN 9781633698154 (paperback) | ISBN 9781633698161 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Decision making. | Problem solving. | Industrial management.

Classification: LCC HD30.23 .H388 2020 | DDC 658.4/03dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019029435

ISBN: 978-1-63369-815-4

eISBN: 978-1-63369-816-1

Youre hiring a vendor, and out of the handful of candidates youre considering, youve narrowed it down to two. One can do the work fast, but at a high price tag. The other is cheaper, but would require a few additional weeks. Speed would certainly impress your boss, but the higher cost would use most of your budget. How do you decide?

Youre faced with a litany of decisions at work every dayfrom hiring choices to prioritizing projects to making strategic decisions for your company. And even seemingly straightforward choices can be challenging. Unconscious biases, time pressure, and conflicting data can all add complexity to your decision-making processes, and it can be difficult to sort out how to make the right trade-offs and choose the best path forward.

But there are ways to improve the way you approach your toughest choices. This guide provides tips and tools to help you generate better ideas, evaluate your options more fairly, and make the final call, so you can come to the best decision more quickly and confidentlyand ensure it sticks.

Youll learn how to:

• Avoid the psychological traps that can interfere with making smart choices
• Define clear decision-making roles for team members and stakeholders
• Ask questions to reframe your problem
• Generate ideas using top-down and bottom-up thinking
• Apply design thinking to your brainstorming process
• Balance data and intuition to narrow down alternatives
• Make appropriate trade-offs when comparing options
• Assess risk using a quantitative approach
• Decide confidently, even if youre short on time
• Overcome analysis paralysis
• Communicate your decision to stakeholders and be transparent about your process
• Respond productively when people second-guess your choice
• Correct course when youve made a mistakeand learn from it

Why decision making is so hard.

Understand the misperceptions and biases that cloud your judgment.

BY JOHN S. HAMMOND, RALPH L. KEENEY, AND HOWARD RAIFFA

Identify who needs to be involved and in what ways.

BY PAUL ROGERS AND MARCIA BLENKO

Seven steps for making stronger choices consistently.

BY ERIK LARSON

Encourage open, candid dialogue.

Ask questions to look at the problem in new ways.

BY HAL GREGERSEN

Use both top-down and bottom-up thinking.

BY TONY McCAFFREY

Question, care, connect, and commit.

BY WARREN BERGER

Youll come up with more creative options.

BY FRANCESCA GINO

You have a higher chance of making the best decision.

BY SHANKHA BASU AND KRISHNA SAVANI

There are pluses and minuses.

BY CHRIS CHARYK

How to compare options when you have apples and oranges.

BY JOHN S. HAMMOND, RALPH L. KEENEY, AND HOWARD RAIFFA

Be selective about the information you need.

BY TANYA MENON AND LEIGH THOMPSON

A quantitative approach for strategic choices.

BY LUKE BENCIE AND SAMI ARABOGHLI

Questions to ask in the gray areas.

BY JOSEPH L. BADARACCO

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Consider your expertise level, decision type, and time available.

BY CONNSON CHOU LOCKE

Focus on making the choice turn out right.

BY ED BATISTA

Know which decisions are worth spending time on.

BY THOMAS H. DAVENPORT

Notify the right peoplein the right way.

Earn a reputation as a fair manager.

BY LIANE DAVEY

Ensure your decisions stick.

BY ROBERT M. GALFORD, BOB FRISCH, AND CARY GREENE

How to move on without regret.

BY CAROLYN OHARA

Outline a plan in advance.

BY BOB FRISCH AND CARY GREENE

And get people to accept your choice.

BY DAVID MAXFIELD

Act fast and communicate lessons learned.

BY DORIE CLARK

Whether you have 2 weeks or 20 minutes.