A632.9.3.RB - Role of Emotion in Decision Making

In this video, Prof. Baba Shiv of Stanford University speaks to the importance of emotion in decision making, particularly as related to confidence. After watching this video, reflect on two situations; one, in which you were extremely confident of the outcome and what your attitude was towards the subject; and second, a situation in which you were less confident or not so confident of the outcome. Based on this module's readings and this video, write a reflection blog detailing the situations above and describing the role emotion played in decision making. Include what emotional reactions you experienced for each scenario.

The video this week was very insightful, yet reflecting on past modules left me with some questions. Professor Baba Shiv stated that it is critical that you invoke emotion into the decision-making process (2011). Comparing his ideas to Sheena Iyengar's video from module 2, what is the relationship between emotion and how quickly one makes a decision? According to Iyengar’s (2011) research, a typical American makes an average of 70 choices in a typical day, 50% of decisions were made in 9 minutes or less, and only 12% of their decisions did they make an hour or more of their time. Another question I contemplated is, can you have a "fake it until you make it" attitude with confidence? Even if the confidence is not sincere, could "faking it" build the self-confidence over time?

I ask these questions because not too long ago, I used to think of myself as a poor decision-maker. Not necessarily that I made bad decisions, but that I was not very good at deciding. I am not sure if it was due to lack of self-confidence, analysis paralysis, choice overload, or laziness but I hated making decisions and would often defer to others. When I did make decisions, I would not feel confident and often questioned my choices and alternate routes. It didn't matter how big or small the decision was, I was not a confident decision-maker. For example, I used to not be a very social person. However, my husband on the other hand is very social. He decided to have several couples over to our house for a super bowl party. I was not sure of myself or the situation. I went to the store to buy soda for the party. It should be a simple task but I get to the soda isle, what do I see? A sea of choices. Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Mountain Dew, A&W, etc. I decide on Coca-Cola but then there’s more decisions. Coca-Cola regular, diet, zero, cherry, light. Now I am uncertain what our guests might like and start to second-guess my decision to buy Coca-Cola. Then I start to doubt whether to get soda or not. I leave empty handed and frustrated, desperately hoping the guests are satisfied with sweet tea and water. I fretted over the decision all night and apologized for the lack of beverage choices. I had a miserable time because of my indecision and lack of confidence in something so trivial.  

My growth in the military and in this "Leadership journey" have improved my confidence and overall decision-making abilities.  The past five years or so, I have been in very prominent leadership roles.  While I did not always feel confident in my abilities or decisions, I have grown and learned so much.  Furthermore, I had to sometimes adopt the "fake it until you make it" attitude to get the job done.  When I was a Production Superintendent, I started out unsure of myself due to my limited B-2 experience.  However, I quickly learned that the job was not about how much I knew but about leading my people to get the job done.  Within months of starting that position, I became confident in my abilities and decisions.  I enjoyed the job and that I was learning new things every day.  Like Professor Shiv stated, confidence has an effect on how motivated and engaged you are (2011). My confidence grew and was contagious amongst my peers and subordinates.  Idealized influence, or charisma, is an emotional component which "describes leaders who act as strong role models for followers; followers identify with these leaders". (Northouse, p. 167) The crew chiefs wanted to work for me.  We developed a great team that built each other up and were able to effectively accomplish the mission.

It is critical that you invoke emotion into the decision making process because:
1. passion is persuasive
2. confidence Is contagious
3. extraction of utility from the experience you faced

References:
Iyengar, S. (2010). “The Art of Choosing”. TEDGlobal 2010. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_on_the_art_of_choosing?language=en
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th ed). Los Angeles: SAGE
Shiv, B. (2011). Brain Research at Standard: Decision Making. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRKfl4owWKcLinks to an external site

A632.8.3.RB - Reflections on the Cynefin Framework

Create a reflection blog based on critically thinking about how the Cynefin Framework can benefit your decision-making. Consider the chart on page 7 of the HBR article A Leader's Framework for Decision Making and discuss decision-making in multiple contexts; include two specific examples of decisions in multiple contexts that you have made. Detail the considerations from the various contexts that influenced your decision. Critically assess the Cynefin Framework and describe 5 ways it can provide an improved context for decision making.

People typically make decisions by following a pattern of information gathering, assessment and identifying and selecting the best alternatives. The Cynefin Framework “sorts the issues facing leaders into five contexts defined by the nature of the relationship between cause and effect” (Snowden and Boone, 2007, p.70). The contexts are simple, complicated, complex, chaotic, and disorder- which is situated at the center of the framework. The Cynefin Framework allows decision makers to see that different situations require different responses. Simple and complicated contexts occur in an ordered universe where cause-and-effect relationships are sensible, and the correct answer or choice can be resolved based on the facts. The complex and chaotic contexts where cause-and-effect have no apparent relationship, are unordered, and the future is determined based on the emergence of patterns. The unordered world is represented by pattern-based management while the ordered world is the fact-based management world (Snowden & Boone, 2007). 

The first example that came to mind when reading this week's module was a situation that I experienced two years ago.  I was the acting Production Superintendent on night shift.  It was approximately 2 a.m. with not a lot of work going on.  The weapons troops on shift were supposed to be doing simple, routine maintenance.  Suddenly, the weapons expeditor came to my office and explained that his troop had accidentally activated the Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) system in the aircraft dock.  This system is used to extinguish flammable liquid fires such as aircraft fuel fires.  When activated, it is designed to fill the entire dock with foam to quickly extinguish the fire and prevent further damage.  None of had encountered this type of emergency situation and knew that decisions needed to be made quickly.  The first thing was to react and ensure everyone was safely out of the hangar (chaotic).  The severity and urgency of the situation influenced my decisions.  I had to call in the emergency responders (complicated).  The fire department was called and responded.  While the emergency services safed the hangar, I called supervision and decided to get a camera to take pictures for the impending investigation.  At the same time I had to continue to manage maintenance on the rest of the fleet for the morning fliers (simple).  Gradually, we moved a more complex domain with emergent solutions.  I knew the aircraft would need to be towed out and I quickly decided where to move it.  Then I discovered we had to tow the aircraft in the next dock, as well.  I gave my maintainers guidance and they acted quickly and effectively.  

A second example of decisions in multiple contexts is in another emergency situation.  There was an aircraft experiencing an In-flight Emergency (IFE).  I had to quickly take action by keeping my supervision informed, contacting the fire department and coordinating getting the crew chiefs and other specialists to the runway to respond to the emergency.  Once again, at the same time I had to manage other maintenance on the flightline to keep it running routinely and according to established procedures.  In both the AFF and the IFE situation, I had to keep calm and allow solutions to emerge rather than trying to impose them.  

There are 5 ways that the Framework specifically provides a better context for decision-making.
The first way is through awareness: Leaders often make decisions without knowing the context of the decision. These may be emotion driven and can cause errors in thinking. The Framework helps analyze the context. The second way that the Cynefin framework can provide me with an improved context for decision making is by educating me on what context each quadrant of the framework addresses. Is the situation simple or known, complicated or knowable, complex or chaotic? The framework can also help avoid cognitive bias that arises from utilizing traditional measures to arrive at a resolution or decision. A cynefin framework is an approach that can be used in addressing the uncertainties. The framework provides me with situational awareness with regards to the big picture while addressing the issues that can work to make me lose focus on the big picture.  Overall, I find the Cynefin framework to be beneficial to my decision-making process. It allows me to come up with a plan to address future decisions while giving me a template with which I can analyze past decisions.

Reference:
Snowden, D.J. & Boone, M.E. (2007). A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making. Retrieved
from: https://hbr.org/2007/11/a-leaders-framework-for-decision-makingLinks to an external site.

A632.7.3.RB - Collaborative Decision Making

Reflect on the role of collaboration and getting to resolution in the process of decision-making. Rarely, if ever, do our decisions affect only ourselves. Consider the importance of getting other stakeholders involved; how can they help you make a better decision for all?

Recall a specific situation where you were faced with making a decision; within the context of the information in this module’s reading, describe the process you went through and the outcome you were seeking. How did stakeholder involvement help you make a better decision? If stakeholders were not involved, could they have been? Would that have led to a better resolution? Did you achieve your objective(s)? Identify 3 ways you may use this learning experience to make better decisions in the future.

When I was put in charge of managing the Sortie Support Section, I knew there was a lot to fix. We were responsible for the security, control, and accountability of equipment. However, the section was in a troubled state. The Quality Assurance pass rates were very low and morale was almost non-existent. Not to mention the fact that our customer service reputation was lacking. The support members would greet customers with irritability and slowly retrieve tools. Conflict between my members and our customers was a daily occurrence. I needed to fix it, but wasn't sure how. 

While reading a story in this book I first got the idea to implement the outward mindset in my section. The story in the book described how Bill Bartman built a debt collection company that figured out ways to help their clients make money. “They operate from the premise that their clients owe them money precisely because they don’t have enough money to pay them.” (The Arbinger Institute, p.61) This sparked an idea in me to find ways to help our customers and section.

I started with a dry-erase board and stakeholder involvement. At the front counter where our customers stood to check out their tools, I hung a dry erase board and simply wrote “How can we make your job easier?”. I was fishing for ideas, changes, improvements that we could make. At first there was pessimism and hesitation. Finally, after a week of negative comments and complaints, real suggestions started to flow. We implemented the suggestions and our section began to improve as well as our relationship with our customers. Each time we completed a project, I would write it on the left with a check. Weeks went by and we received more and more suggestions and my team continued implementing them.

We started to communicate. Not only, were the customers communicating their ideas with us, we were communicating with each other. Within a few months, we QA pass rates increased and the number of lost tools lessened. Our customers would come in with smiling faces and my Airmen would optimistically greet them while quickly retrieving whatever tools needed. The support Airmen also came up with a myriad of ideas to improve the section and benefit the customers. We shifted our organizational mindset from an inward one, to an outward mindset.

According to Levine (2009), decision-making can be viewed the same way a problem-solving. Decision-making is our way of getting down to the bottom line and the details of the issue. A simple dry erase board was the solution to improving my section and minimizing conflict with the customers. Resolution is a much better resource than compromise since the cost of aftereffect is less. Conflict resolution is a skill that we can learn by cultivating the habit of alternative practices (Levine, 2009). Stakeholder involvement was critical to the success by implementing their ideas for improvement rather than my own.  

If those stakeholders hadn’t been involved, my decisions to "fix" the section could have been a waste of time. Levine (2009) asks “does the preliminary vision fit everyone’s view of the outcome” (p.137). By getting the stakeholders input, I understood what vision they each had for an outcome. On the other hand, if we (Support Section) had asked for the customers opinions and then ignored everything then they wouldn’t have trusted us going forward. We made sure to 

get their input and act on it. Being flexible in our processes and including all of the stakeholders, whether they cared or not, we were able to roll out a fairly successful solution that allowed better communication and ownership of the processes in the section. Engaging in a process of resolution ignites sparks of creativity, and telling stories puts that creativity into play (Levine, 2009). 

Levine, S. (2009 ). Getting to resolution: Turning conflict into resolution. (2nd edition). Williston, VT: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

The Arbinger Institute. (2016). The outward mindset seeing beyond ourselves how to change lives and transform organizations. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler .