Strategic Decision Making

Incl. Bonus – How we decide in cognitive behavior, how managers & organizations learn to improve a decision making process, concepts, priority setting & problem solving

Simone Janson

• Publisher: Best of HR – Berufebilder.de®
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9783965960671
• Edition: 7
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Corporate Finance
• Index: Economics

Also in the 7th revised and improved edition, published by a government-funded publisher involved in EU programs and a partner of the Federal Ministry of Education, you receive the concentrated expertise of renowned experts (overview in the book preview), embedded in an integrated knowledge system with premium content and 75% advantage. At the same time, you do good and support sustainable projects.

Because in today's business world, learning to make good, even exactly right decisions and set priorities is essential for personal advancement and the success of the company. And yet, all too often decisions are made from the gut rather than gathering important information or understanding how decision-making processes actually work. This book shows what to look out for in strategically important decisions and how to make them intuitively correct.

With its integrated knowledge system and "Info on Demand" concept, the publisher not only participated in an EU-funded program but was also awarded the Global Business Award as Publisher of the Year. Therefore, by purchasing this book, you are also doing good: The publisher is financially and personally involved in socially relevant projects such as tree planting campaigns, the establishment of scholarships, sustainable innovations, and many other ideas.

The goal of providing you with the best possible content on topics such as career, finance, management, recruiting, or psychology goes far beyond the static nature of traditional books: The interactive book not only imparts expert knowledge but also allows you to ask individual questions and receive personal advice.

In doing so, expertise and technical innovation go hand in hand, as we take the responsibility of delivering well-researched and reliable content, as well as the trust you place in us, very seriously. Therefore, all texts are written by experts in their field. Only for better accessibility of information do we rely on AI-supported data analysis, which assists you in your search for knowledge.

You also gain extensive premium services: Each book includes detailed explanations and examples, making it easier for you to successfully use the consultation services, freeky available only to book buyers. Additionally, you can download e-courses, work with workbooks, or engage with an active community. This way, you gain valuable resources that enhance your knowledge, stimulate creativity, and make your personal and professional goals achievable and successes tangible.

That's why, as part of the reader community, you have the unique opportunity to make your journey to personal success even more unforgettable with travel deals of up to 75% off. Because we know that true success is not just a matter of the mind, but is primarily the result of personal impressions and experiences.

Publisher and editor Simone Janson is also a bestselling author and one of the 10 most important German bloggers according to the Blogger Relevance Index. Additionally, she has been a columnist and author for renowned media such as WELT, Wirtschaftswoche, and ZEIT - you can learn more about her on Wikipedia.

Decision-making pleasure vs. Fear: solve problems efficiently
// By Simone Janson

Decisiveness and fear of decision are two antagonists - and indecision unfortunately occurs more often than many are fond of. But what is behind the fear of deciding? And how can problems be solved efficiently?

Do not be afraid of the decision!

The unwise strategy of many perfectionists to avoid mistakes and criticism at any cost is not only stressful for them, but also has far-reaching consequences.

• What is important in your job?
• Of course you should do your job well. But does not this work consist of many big and small decisions?
• Better first eMails or work on the project?
• The documents for the boss with paper clips fix or zusammenmember?
• Say something in the meeting or better not?
• Give the customer the discount or insist on his own position?
• Turn Mr. X or Ms. Y into a department head?

Such and similar thoughts accompany your entire daily routine - and you make many decisions so unconsciously that you barely notice it yourself.

prevention strategies

A good decision is really nothing but the solution of a problem. For example, when you think about which tasks you should do first, the problem is how to work most efficiently. Speaking in a meeting or getting the most out of a client could improve your career opportunities.

When choosing the department head, ask yourself who could best master this important task. And even if you decide between paper clips or staplers, you solve a problem - namely that your boss might be dissatisfied with your work (of course only if you consider that he is always annoyed about zusammengetackerte documents!). Every time you make a decision, you want to improve the current situation. And exactly this problem-oriented way of thinking leads to new ideas and innovations in many situations.

Decisions - always the better choice

On the other hand, if you are undecided, you are taking the opportunity to actively influence the solution to a problem. But if you're honest, you've already made a choice with that - right? Therefore, even a wrong decision is better than none, because only by an active decision you have the opportunity to act.

But that is precisely why so many decision-less perfectionists still hope that a problem will solve itself on its own: Any decision carries just the risk of bet on the wrong horse. It also means to commit oneself and to give up all other possibilities. This is where the dog is buried for perfectionists: they would rather keep all options open; it would be unthinkable for them if later on they would receive information that would have allowed them to make a better, right, even perfect decision. Fearing to make the wrong choice, they therefore prefer to delay the decision for as long as possible, to circumvent it or even to pass it on to others - sometimes with absurd results.

How business decisions work

It's not the head of the marketing department who decides on a copy, but the accountant has the last word. When placing an order, the head of the company-owned kindergarten (as a works council member) must not be missing, because the boss does not want to bypass anyone. Even the decision-maker, who decides to award a contract due to lack of time on the golf course, is a perfectionist at least here: The project, which had been in his office for weeks, he did not even look at in the perfectionist-typical all-or-nothing attitude; He preferred to suppress his fear of the decision when playing golf.

You also prefer to play golf than to decide? Unfortunately that is not as amusing as it sounds. Anyone who is always undecided, quickly dissatisfied and is also in his bad mood even in the way. Worse, those who can not decide are often seen by others as insecure and outwardly incompetent. Anyone who wants to keep all options open, is soon considered unreliable. Especially in responsible positions, these qualities are not exactly helpful, but are interpreted as a leadership weakness - this is neither for you nor for your company an image gain. No wonder, then, that psychologist Jochen Albert calls indecision a career brake number one.

A bad example

This has also Patrick, a project manager of a larger company, learn. For an important project, certain goals have to be achieved. Patrick has divided his employees into several teams. Soon, however, problems arise: A team leader tells him that he can not meet the requirements of this budget. At the same time, the boss is making further suggestions to improve the project, but deviate from the original objective. Patrick feels overwhelmed. He can not decide whether he should continue the project as originally planned or change the objective. Not to mention the budget problem ...

If he talks to the boss, he means, he will think him incapable! And what should the team leaders think when he asks them for advice? After all, he wants to prove that he is just perfect for this task. He thinks for a long time, only wants to see how the work on the project develops, so that he makes no wrong decision. He asks the team leaders to keep him up to date on every step, because even the smallest piece of information makes his decision easier - he believes. In reality, the constant feedback confuses him even more. When time finally runs out, he decides to involve the team leaders. He simply dictates a memo with the boss's suggestions. In the project meeting he explains: "Unfortunately, I have to react flexibly to the constantly changing conditions and therefore can not say anything clearer. But you now have all the important information yourself. Please implement the guidelines as well as possible. "

The team leaders feel overwhelmed and left alone. Everyone tries in their own way to implement the instructions as well as possible. But since Patrick ultimately has given them neither a single line, nor a clear, common goal, the project finally comes to a close. His supervisor is indignant: "Your job would have been to take responsibility by formulating a clear and unambiguous goal from my proposals, so that the teams know what they have to adhere to. If you had problems, you would have to talk to me. "Patrick, on the other hand, feels innocent and defends himself:" I just wanted to do my job as well as possible and therefore I gave all of the important information to everyone Situation. "

The optimal strategy

Another important aspect of solving a problem is the right strategy or, if you like, your method: how you decide which of the available alternatives you choose depends essentially on your goal. In addition, other factors, such as your budget, also play a role. Taking all factors into consideration, you will then make your decision in the end.

For example, if your goal is to be fluent in Spanish in a year's time, it's no good choosing an adult education course, even if the cost is very low. You should then opt for a more efficient method.

Objectives

At the beginning of every decision is a goal, the solution of a problem. The clearer the goal, the easier it is to make a decision. For example, if your goal is to work abroad, it will make it easier for you to choose a language course than if you just want to brush up on your foreign language skills because it may be good for the job. Because if you know what you want, it will be easy for you to develop the right strategy that will lead you to your goal.

Patrick, for example, is to set up a project in a certain period of time - that is his goal, the prerequisite for his actions. This is determined by his boss and not to change. Understand which conditions and objectives your decisions have. Once you've determined this, you do not need to worry about it during your decision-making process. Keep track of your requirements and goals in writing - Patrick looks like this:

Patrick's goals in his decision:

• The boss should be satisfied.
• The project should be a success.
• The ideas of the boss should be considered as far as possible.
• I would like to delegate as much work as possible to the project leaders.

Presumably, however, not all goals are so clear to you, some goals are rather unconsciously formulated. It was the same with Patrick, for whose behavior errors of reasoning are responsible in the decision-making process, which are not uncommon for perfectionists. His ultimate goal was to bring the project to a successful conclusion. Soon, however, another goal unconsciously gained the upper hand - namely, to fight one's own insecurity. This became his main goal - albeit unconsciously. The result was his desire to collect as much information as possible in order to make the optimal decision. This also explains why Patrick finally delegated the responsibility to his team leaders: in this way, he was able to at least temporarily relinquish the associated uncertainty.

So Patrick misjudged his need for security and his ability; his goal of successfully completing the project was unrealistic. In fact, you can only make a good decision if you have a good goal in mind. And good goals are SMART. SMART stands for the following characteristics that your goal should definitely unite:

Goals should be SMART

What does SMART mean?
S	specific concrete, simple formulated, self-initiated: Do you have a concrete visual, verbal and emotional idea of ​​your goal that you can express in a short, concise and precise manner in one sentence? And can you influence your own goal or are you dependent on the reactions and influences of your environment? Because only if these conditions are met will you be able to keep an eye on your goal. This was Patrick's mistake: his goal "The project should be a success" is far too unclear - he should have defined more precisely what success means to him. He made this success dependent on the opinion of his boss and could no longer influence his own goal. So it's no wonder that Patrick lost sight of his goal during his decision-making process.
M	measurable: Your goal should also be formulated so that you can always check whether you have already achieved it or not. But you must first determine where your bar is. Again, it helps you to get the most accurate picture of your destination. Because if you know what your goal looks like, then of course you also know exactly when you have achieved it or if you still have to work towards it.
A	attractive, as-if-formulated now: It is also important that the goal appears attractive to you. Therefore, check critically whether the goal really is your own interest or has been pre-empted by someone else - as Patrick did. He was supposed to implement the instructions of his boss, but could not properly integrate them into the project and therefore did not really aim at the goal. But in his mind he was constantly dealing with this difficult problem and focused only on it. And this is exactly where the solution lies: If you find the decision difficult, you should instead focus on the liberating result instead of on the oppressive decision-making process. So instead of constantly thinking about how difficult this decision is, imagine how well you will feel when you have solved this problem. Be sure to formulate your goal in the present tense: "I start ...", "I do ..." or "I say ...". If you instead use plasticizers like "I would like to ...", "I want to ..." or even "I would have to ...", you lose sight of your goal much faster.
R	Realistic: In order for you to achieve your goal, it must be realistic. This means that you have to carefully check whether the set goal is also within the scope of your personal abilities and possibilities and whether the current environment allows you to achieve your goal. You can, of course, get the opinion of your fellow human bei...

Table of contents

• Imprint
• Introduction: How this book supports you
• Career planning and strategy for executives: 3 practice tips against operational blindness // By Maike Dietz
• Learn how to decide: problem solving in 5 steps // By Nadja Raslan
• Making decisions: methods and processes in the brain // By Winfried Neun
• Better leading and deciding with intuition: use your potential! // By Monika A. Pohl
• Concept creation and strategy development: Quick shot with a sham solution // By Katja Ischebeck
• Better Choice - 10 Tips: Properly informing instead of brooding! // By Simone Janson
• Handling Errors: 2 X 5 Top and Flop Strategies // By Simone Janson
• Productive decision: through structured thinking to success // By Simone Janson
• 4 Steps to the Optimal Problem Solution: Decide correctly and well // By Prof. Dr. Martin-Niels Däfler
• Concept, Strategy and Goals for Success - 7 Tips: What make good companies better? // By Achim Kelbel
• Decision-making pleasure vs. Fear: solve problems efficiently // By Simone Janson
• Make decisions right - 5 tips: When the impulse helps deceive and hesitate // By Simone Janson
• Closing Remarks
• Authors Overview
• About the publisher Best of HR - Berufebilder.de®
• Notes on translation