A Leaders Framework for Decision Making

The leader response for different situations adds to his experiences and background, shaping his framework for carrying plans and making decisions. But first we have to know that situations varies in its complexity and surrounding circumstances; based on these situations characteristics the leader is able to take decisions and maintain stability and safety for surrounding team. I like the statement stated by the writer “GOOD LEADERSHIP IS NOT A ONE-SIZE-FITS- ALL PROPOSITION”.

Each leader has a framework matches with his own style; we could agree that there must be a wide range of common characteristics with minimum level of acquisition like Pro-activity, Flexibility, Exceptional Communication Skills, Self Managed, Analytic, and so on.

In the following article we get introduced to a new framework for understanding complexity, broaden the traditional approach to leadership and decision making and form a new perspective based on “Complexity Science”. This framework evolved through previous applications, helping in many industries like Pharmaceutical, Governmental, Industrial, and many else.

This frame work sorts the issues facing the leaders into five contexts defined by the nature of the relationship between cause and effect. First, Simple Context “The Domain of Best Practice” the only advantage for this context type – In my point of view – Is that the right answer is self-evident and undisputed; decisions are unquestioned because all parties share an understanding. While there is many disadvantages for such context; issues may be incorrectly classified within this domain because they have been oversimplified.

Also people may get blinded to new ways of thinking as a result of their perspective of thinking they acquired through past experience, training, and success.

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Another disadvantage of the Simple Context is that when things appear to be going smoothly, leaders often become complacent, reacting too late for context changes. As a remedy for such disadvantages leaders need to avoid micromanaging and stay connected to what is happening in order to spot any change in context. Since hindsight is no longer leads to foresight after a shift in context, a corresponding change in management style may be called for. Complicated Context” the next ordered context in Cynefin Framework, unlike simple ones it may contain multiple right answers. In complicated context we must sense, analyze, and respond. Complicated Context encounters some disadvantages like entrained thinking leads to “analysis paralysis”, also it takes a lot of time for reaching decisions, there is always trade-offs between finding the right answer and simply making a decision. Leaders during this type of context must listen to the experts, welcoming novel thoughts and solutions from others. Complex Context” is different from the complicated one in that right answers can’t be ferreted out, other than having at least one right answer already exists in the Complicated Context. It is the domain to which much of contemporary business has shifted. Leaders who try to impose orders in a complex context will fail, but those who set the stage, step back a bit, allow patterns to emerge, and determine which ones are desirable will succeed. “Chaotic Context” is completely different from my perspective, belongs to Do-Think-Do style, an example of an extroverted person.

In Chaotic Context, searching for right answers would be pointless, the relationships between cause and effect are impossible to determine because they shift constantly and no manageable patterns exist. The Chaotic domain is nearly always the best place for leaders to impel innovation. There is no a best context or domain to use for the whole of your life situations. Truly adept leaders know not only how to identify the context they are working in, but also how to change their behavior to match. I believe in this as a role of a pro-active.

Flexible leader needed nowadays facing the variety of situations stress, importance levels. You can use chaotic domain but u have to manage chaos and innovation in parallel. You can use complex domain but don’t forget using the tools of managing in such context; open discussions, set barriers, stimulate attractors, encourage dissent and diversity, manage starting conditions, and monitor for emergence. Finally you have to customize your preferable domain according to the facing situation, going in and out between them without losing your own framework style, maintaining your profile as an effective leader.