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Module 1: Brian Moynihan is a top Manager. He is the CEO of Bank of America and has been since 2010. His primary focus is on the big picture strategies and sets the direction for the company. 

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Module 1: Brian Moynihan is a top Manager. He is the CEO of Bank of America and has been since 2010. His primary focus is on the big picture strategies and sets the direction for the company. 

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Module 1: To be a successful manager in a call center, you have to have human skills. Human skills are a combination of combination of social, interpersonal, and leadership skills. 

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Module 1: To be a successful manager in a call center, you have to have human skills. Human skills are a combination of combination of social, interpersonal, and leadership skills. 

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Module 2: Diversity in the workplace is extremely important for an organziation's success. People from all backgrounds can bring a variety of positive effects, that can help with the organiziation's creativity, morale, and value.

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Module 2: Diversity in the workplace is extremely important for an organziation's success. People from all backgrounds can bring a variety of positive effects, that can help with the organiziation's creativity, morale, and value.

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Module 2: Seeing Wells Fargo volunteer with Habitat for Humanity helped me understand how businesses can give back to their communities in meaningful ways. It showed me that corporate social responsibility isn’t just a concept, it’s something companies can actively practice to make a real difference.

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Module 2: Seeing Wells Fargo volunteer with Habitat for Humanity helped me understand how businesses can give back to their communities in meaningful ways. It showed me that corporate social responsibility isn’t just a concept, it’s something companies can actively practice to make a real difference.

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Module 3: Learning about global organizations is important because it helps me understand how businesses operate across different cultures, economies, and legal systems. It also prepares me to think more critically and creatively about solving problems on an international scale.

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Module 3: Learning about global organizations is important because it helps me understand how businesses operate across different cultures, economies, and legal systems. It also prepares me to think more critically and creatively about solving problems on an international scale.

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Module 3: I chose this article because it breaks down the ways globalization shapes everything, from the clothes we wear to the food we eat, in a way that’s super easy to understand. It reinforced what we learned and helped me see that globalization isn’t just something that affects big corporations; it affects my personal life every day.

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Module 3: I chose this article because it breaks down the ways globalization shapes everything, from the clothes we wear to the food we eat, in a way that’s super easy to understand. It reinforced what we learned and helped me see that globalization isn’t just something that affects big corporations; it affects my personal life every day.

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How Globalization Affects Developed Countries

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The increase in communications technology allows companies to complete in a global market.

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Module 4: The importance of careful planning and decision-making really resonated with me. I’m the type of person who likes to just jump right in when I have an idea, but this module showed me that taking time to gather all the information before making a move is not just smart but it’s necessary.

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Module 4: The importance of careful planning and decision-making really resonated with me. I’m the type of person who likes to just jump right in when I have an idea, but this module showed me that taking time to gather all the information before making a move is not just smart but it’s necessary.

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Strong decision-making skills are essential for newly appointed and seasoned managers alike. The ability to navigate complex challenges and develop a plan can not only lead to more effective team management but drive key organizational change initiatives and objectives.

Despite decision-making's importance in business, a recent survey by McKinsey shows that just 20 percent of professionals believe their organizations excel at it. Survey respondents noted that, on average, they spend 37 percent of their time making decisions, but more than half of it's used ineffectively.

For managers, it's critical to ensure effective decisions are made for their organizations' success. Every managerial decision must be accompanied by research and data, collaboration, and alternative solutions.

Few managers, however, reap the benefits of making more thoughtful choices due to undeveloped decision-making models.

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Why Is Making Decisions Important?

According to Harvard Business School Professor Leonard Schlesinger, who's featured in the online course Management Essentials, most managers view decision-making as a single event, rather than a process. This can lead to managers overestimating their abilities to influence outcomes and closing themselves off from alternative perspectives and diverse ways of thinking.

"The reality is, it's very rare to find a single point in time where 'a decision of significance' is made and things go forward from there," Schlesinger says. "Embedded in this work is the notion that what we're really talking about is a process. The role of the manager in managing that process is actually quite straightforward, yet, at the same time, extraordinarily complex."

If you want to further your business knowledge and be more effective in your role, it's critical to become a strong decision-maker. Here are eight steps in the decision-making process you can employ to become a better manager and have greater influence in your organization.

Steps in the Decision-Making Process

1. Frame the Decision

Pinpointing the issue is the first step to initiating the decision-making process. Ensure the problem is carefully analyzed, clearly defined, and everyone involved in the outcome agrees on what needs to be solved. This process will give your team peace of mind that each key decision is based on extensive research and collaboration.

Schlesinger says this initial action can be challenging for managers because an ill-formed question can result in a process that produces the wrong decision.

"The real issue for a manager at the start is to make sure they are actively working to shape the question they're trying to address and the decision they're trying to have made," Schlesinger says. "That's not a trivial task."

2. Structure Your Team

Managers must assemble the right people to navigate the decision-making process.

"The issue of who's going to be involved in helping you to make that decision is one of the most central issues you face," Schlesinger says. "The primary issue being the membership of the collection of individuals or group that you're bringing together to make that decision."

As you build your team, Schlesinger advises mapping the technical, political, and cultural underpinnings of the decision that needs to be made and gathering colleagues with an array of skills and experience levels to help you make an informed decision. .

"You want some newcomers who are going to provide a different point of view and perspective on the issue you're dealing with," he says. "At the same time, you want people who have profound knowledge and deep experience with the problem."

It's key to assign decision tasks to colleagues and invite perspectives that uncover blindspots or roadblocks. Schlesinger notes that attempting to arrive at the "right answer" without a team that will ultimately support and execute it is a "recipe for failure."

3. Consider the Timeframe

This act of mapping the issue's intricacies should involve taking the decision's urgency into account. Business problems with significant implications sometimes allow for lengthier decision-making processes, whereas other challenges call for more accelerated timelines.

"As a manager, you need to shape the decision-making process in terms of both of those dimensions: The criticality of what it is you're trying to decide and, more importantly, how quickly it needs to get decided given the urgency," Schlesinger says. "The final question is, how much time you're going to provide yourself and the group to invest in both problem diagnosis and decisions."

4. Establish Your Approach

In the early stages of the decision-making process, it's critical to set ground rules and assign roles to team members. Doing so can help ensure everyone understands how they contribute to problem-solving and agrees on how a solution will be reached.

"It's really important to get clarity upfront around the roles people are going to play and the ways in which decisions are going to get made," Schlesinger says. "Often, managers leave that to chance, so people self-assign themselves to roles in ways that you don't necessarily want, and the decision-making process defers to consensus, which is likely to lead to a lower evaluation of the problem and a less creative solution."

5. Encourage Discussion and Debate

One of the issues of leading a group that defaults to consensus is that it can shut out contrarian points of view and deter inventive problem-solving. Because of this potential pitfall, Schlesinger notes, you should designate roles that focus on poking holes in arguments and fostering debate.

"What we're talking about is establishing a process of devil's advocacy, either in an individual or a subgroup role," he says. "That's much more likely to lead to a deeper critical evaluation and generate a substantial number of alternatives."

Schlesinger adds that this action can take time and potentially disrupt group harmony, so it's vital for managers to guide the inner workings of the process from the outset to ensure effective collaboration and guarantee more quality decisions will be made.

"What we need to do is establish norms in the group that enable us to be open to a broader array of data and decision-making processes," he says. "If that doesn't happen upfront, but in the process without a conversation, it's generally a source of consternation and some measure of frustration."

3 Group Decision-Making Techniques for Success

6. Navigate Group Dynamics

In addition to creating a dynamic in which candor and debate are encouraged, there are other challenges you need to navigate as you manage your team throughout the decision-making process.

One is ensuring the size of the group is appropriate for the problem and allows for an efficient workflow.

"In getting all the people together that have relevant data and represent various political and cultural constituencies, each incremental member adds to the complexity of the decision-making process and the amount of time it takes to get a decision made and implemented," Schlesinger says.

Another task, he notes, is identifying which parts of the process can be completed without face-to-face interaction.

"There's no question that pieces of the decision-making process can be deferred to paper, email, or some app," Schlesinger says. "But, at the end of the day, given that so much of decision-making requires high-quality human interaction, you need to defer some part of the process for ill-structured and difficult tasks to a face-to-face meeting."

7. Ensure the Pieces Are in Place for Implementation

Throughout your team's efforts to arrive at a decision, you must ensure you facilitate a process that encompasses:

Shared goals that were presented upfront

Alternative options that have been given rigorous thought and fair consideration

Sound methods for exploring decisions' consequences

According to Schlesinger, these components profoundly influence the quality of the solution that's ultimately identified and the types of decisions that'll be made in the future.

"In the general manager's job, the quality of the decision is only one part of the equation," he says. "All of this is oriented toward trying to make sure that once a decision is made, we have the right groupings and the right support to implement."

8. Achieve Closure and Alignment

Achieving closure in the decision-making process requires arriving at a solution that sufficiently aligns members of your group and garners enough support to implement it.

As with the other phases of decision-making, clear communication ensures your team understands and commits to the plan.

In a video interview for the online course Management Essentials, Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria says it's essential to explain the rationale behind the decision to your employees.

"If it's a decision that you have to make, say, 'I know there were some of you who thought differently, but let me tell you why we went this way,'" Nohria says. "This is so the people on the other side feel heard and recognize the concerns they raised are things you've tried to incorporate into the decision and, as implementation proceeds, if those concerns become real, then they'll be attended to."

How to Improve Your Decision-Making

An in-depth understanding of the decision-making process is vital for all managers. Whether you're an aspiring manager aiming to move up at your organization or a seasoned executive who wants to boost your job performance, honing your approach to decision-making can improve your managerial skills and equip you with the tools to advance your career.
Do you want to become a more effective decision-maker? Explore Management Essentials-one of our online leadership and management courses-to learn how you can influence the context and environment in which decisions get made. This article was update on July 15, 2022. It was originally published on February 4, 2020.

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8 Steps in the Decision-Making Process | HBS Online

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Here are eight steps in the decision-making process you can employ to become a better manager and have greater influence at your organization.

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Module 4: I did not know that there were many different styles to decision-making. This module taught me that there are Optimizing vs. Satisficing, Intuitive vs. Rational, Combinatorial vs. Positional and more. This video talks about additional decision making styles in management. 

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Module 4: I did not know that there were many different styles to decision-making. This module taught me that there are Optimizing vs. Satisficing, Intuitive vs. Rational, Combinatorial vs. Positional and more. This video talks about additional decision making styles in management. 

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Decision Making, Types of Decision Making, Decision making Techniques #decisionmaking

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Module 5: I didn’t realize how much an organization’s structure impact success until this module. It made me think back to jobs I’ve had and why some felt organized and some didn’t. This video was very insightful on the different organizational structures. 

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Module 5: I didn’t realize how much an organization’s structure impact success until this module. It made me think back to jobs I’ve had and why some felt organized and some didn’t. This video was very insightful on the different organizational structures. 

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6 Most Common Types of Organizational Structures (Pros & Cons) | From A Business Professor

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Module 5: This article explains in clear steps how to choose an organizational structure that will work for your company. I found it really interesting because it helped me see how much strategy goes into setting up a business for success. It’s not just about picking a structure, it’s about picking the right one for the company’s vision, and needs.

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Module 5: This article explains in clear steps how to choose an organizational structure that will work for your company. I found it really interesting because it helped me see how much strategy goes into setting up a business for success. It’s not just about picking a structure, it’s about picking the right one for the company’s vision, and needs.

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www.indeed.com needs to review the security of your connection before proceeding.

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Module 6: I’ve learned that  little communication problems that could turn into bigger business issues if you’re not careful. Communication is conveying messages by exchanging thoughts and information via speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behavior. the goal of communication is usually to generate action, inform, create understanding, or communicate a certain idea or point of view. We must effectively communicate, not just communicate. 

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Module 6: I’ve learned that  little communication problems that could turn into bigger business issues if you’re not careful. Communication is conveying messages by exchanging thoughts and information via speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behavior. the goal of communication is usually to generate action, inform, create understanding, or communicate a certain idea or point of view. We must effectively communicate, not just communicate. 

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Module 6: I’ve always known since working  in corporate America that HR is not your friend. HR is there to protect the company, the  first priority is protecting and strengthening the company as a whole. This module reinforce everything I learned about HR through life experiences. 

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Module 6: I’ve always known since working  in corporate America that HR is not your friend. HR is there to protect the company, the  first priority is protecting and strengthening the company as a whole. This module reinforce everything I learned about HR through life experiences. 

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Module 7: Employee motivation goes a long way in a company. Motivation is a key factor impacting performance, so it’s an important concept for leaders to grasp. I chose this video because it tells you how important motivation is in the Workplace.

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Module 7: Employee motivation goes a long way in a company. Motivation is a key factor impacting performance, so it’s an important concept for leaders to grasp. I chose this video because it tells you how important motivation is in the Workplace.

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The Importance of Motivation in the Workplace | 3 Key Benefits Explained

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Module 7:  Learning the difference between managers and leaders was huge for me. It made me realize that leadership is about inspiring people, not just managing tasks and that’s the kind of leader I want to become. This video clearly shows the different mindsets between managing and leading, which I want to remember as I grow in my career.

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Module 7:  Learning the difference between managers and leaders was huge for me. It made me realize that leadership is about inspiring people, not just managing tasks and that’s the kind of leader I want to become. This video clearly shows the different mindsets between managing and leading, which I want to remember as I grow in my career.

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Management vs. Leadership: What’s the Real Difference? | Simon Sinek

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Module 8: There are many different types of “control” in a company and it’s not about micromanaging, it’s about keeping things on track and catching problems early. It’s more about guiding and improving than just “being in charge.”  The Video I added, helped me understand, organizational control by giving a detail breakdown. 

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Module 8: There are many different types of “control” in a company and it’s not about micromanaging, it’s about keeping things on track and catching problems early. It’s more about guiding and improving than just “being in charge.”  The Video I added, helped me understand, organizational control by giving a detail breakdown. 

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Module 8: This article talks about how important it is to have managers who not only control and guide operations but do it effectively. It connected perfectly to the idea in Module 8 about how good control processes help productivity. I thought it was interesting because it made me reflect on managers I’ve had in the past and some who boosted productivity, and others who definitely didn’t.

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Module 8: This article talks about how important it is to have managers who not only control and guide operations but do it effectively. It connected perfectly to the idea in Module 8 about how good control processes help productivity. I thought it was interesting because it made me reflect on managers I’ve had in the past and some who boosted productivity, and others who definitely didn’t.

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Gallup has found that one of the most important decisions companies make is simply whom they name manager. Yet our analysis suggests that they usually get it wrong. In fact, Gallup finds that companies fail to choose the candidate with the right talent for the job 82% of the time.

Bad managers cost businesses billions of dollars each year, and having too many of them can bring down a company. The only defense against this massive problem is a good offense, because when companies get these decisions wrong, nothing fixes it. Businesses that get it right, however, and hire managers based on talent will thrive and gain a significant competitive advantage.

Managers account for at least 70% of variance in employee engagement scores across business units, Gallup estimates. This variation is in turn responsible for severely low worldwide employee engagement. Gallup reported in two large-scale studies in 2012 that only 30% of U.S. employees are engaged at work, and a staggeringly low 13% worldwide are engaged. Worse, over the past 12 years these low numbers have barely budged, meaning that the vast majority of employees worldwide are failing to develop and contribute at work.

Gallup has studied performance at hundreds of organizations and measured the engagement of 27 million employees and more than 2.5 million work units over the past two decades. No matter the industry, size, or location, we find executives struggling to unlock the mystery of why performance varies so immensely from one workgroup to the next. Performance metrics fluctuate widely and unnecessarily within most companies, in no small part from the lack of consistency in how people are managed. This "noise" frustrates leaders because unpredictability causes great inefficiencies in execution.

Executives can cut through this noise by measuring what matters most. Gallup has discovered links between employee engagement at the business-unit level and vital performance indicators, including customer metrics; higher profitability, productivity, and quality (fewer defects); lower turnover; less absenteeism and shrinkage (i.e., theft); and fewer safety incidents. When a company raises employee engagement levels consistently across every business unit, everything gets better.

To make this happen, companies should systematically demand that every team within their workforce have a great manager. After all, the root of performance variability lies within human nature itself. Teams are composed of individuals with diverging needs related to morale, motivation, and clarity - all of which lead to varying degrees of performance. Nothing less than great managers can maximize them.

But first, companies have to find those great managers.

If great managers seem scarce, it's because the talent required to be one is rare. Gallup finds that great managers have the following talents:

They motivate every singleemployee to take action and engage them with a compelling mission and vision.

They have the assertiveness to drive outcomes and the ability to overcome adversity and resistance.

They create a culture of clear accountability.

They build relationships that create trust, open dialogue, and full transparency.

They make decisions that are based on productivity, not politics.

Gallup's research reveals that about one in ten people possess all these necessary traits. While many people are endowed with some of them, few have the unique combination of talent needed to help a team achieve excellence in a way that significantly improves a company's performance. These 10%, when put in manager roles, naturally engage team members and customers, retain top performers, and sustain a culture of high productivity. Combined, they contribute about 48% higher profit to their companies than average managers.

It's important to note that another two in 10 exhibit some characteristics of basic managerial talent and can function at a high level if their company invests in coaching and developmental plans for them.

In studying managerial talent in supervisory roles compared with the general population, we find that organizations have learned ways to slightly improve the odds of finding talented managers. Nearly one in five (18%) of those currently in management roles demonstrate a high level of talent for managing others, while another two in 10 show a basic talent for it. Still, this means that companies miss the mark on high managerial talent in 82% of their hiring decisions, which is an alarming problem for employee engagement and the development of high-performing cultures in the U.S. and worldwide.

Sure, every manager can learn to engage a team somewhat. But without the raw, natural talent to individualize; focus on each person's needs and strengths; boldly review their team members; rally people around a cause; and execute efficient processes, the day-to-day experience will burn out both the manager and his or her team. As noted earlier, this basic inefficiency in identifying talent costs companies hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

Conventional selection processes are a big contributor to inefficiency in management practices; little science or research is applied to find the right person for the managerial role. When Gallup asked U.S. managers why they believed they were hired for their current role, they commonly cited their success in a previous non-managerial role or their tenure in their company or field.

These reasons don't take into account whether the candidate has the right talent to thrive in the role. Being a very successful programmer, salesperson, or engineer, for example, is no guarantee that someone will be even remotely adept at managing others.

Most companies promote workers into managerial positions because they seemingly deserve it, rather than because they have the talent for it. This practice doesn't work. Experience and skills are important, but people's talents - the naturally recurring patterns in the ways they think, feel, and behave - predict where they'll perform at their best. Talents are innate and are the building blocks of great performance. Knowledge, experience, and skills develop our talents, but unless we possess the right innate talents for our job, no amount of training or experience will matter.

Very few people are able to pull off all five of the requirements of good management. Most managers end up with team members who are at best indifferent toward their work - or are at worst hell-bent on spreading their negativity to colleagues and customers. However, when companies can increase their number of talented managers and double the rate of engaged employees, they achieve, on average, 147% higher earnings per share than their competition.

It's important to note - especially in the current economic climate - that finding great managers doesn't depend on market conditions or the current labor force. Large companies have approximately one manager for every 10 employees, and Gallup finds that one in 10 people possess the inherent talent to manage. When you do the math, it's likely that someone on each team has the talent to lead. But given our findings, chances are that it's not the manager. More likely, it's an employee with high managerial potential waiting to be discovered.

The good news is that sufficient management talent exists in every company - it's often hiding in plain sight. Leaders should maximize this potential by choosing the right person for the next management role using predictive analytics to guide their identification of talent.

For too long, companies have wasted time, energy, and resources hiring the wrong managers and then attempting to train them to be who they're not. Nothing fixes the wrong pick.

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Gallup has found that one of the most important decisions companies make is simply whom they name manager. Yet our analysis suggests that they usually get it wrong. In fact, Gallup finds that companies fail to choose the candidate with the right talent for the job 82% of the time.