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I have often felt that I don't really belong on this list, since most list
members appear to be academics and I am not. However, I now have challenge
that I know many list members will be well-qualified to advise me on. My
organization is thinking about creating a course in executive decision
making. I'd be interested in hearing about the experiences of others who
have been involved in anything similar. I'll post a summary of the comments
I receive to the list, if there is sufficient interest.

Some background may be in order. The idea for this seminar came from a
review of our competency model and our training curriculum. Our competency
model says that we want leaders with good decision-making skills but our
curriculum does not have a course that directly addresses this competency.
We notice that some of the organizations we benchmark ourselves against DO
have courses in executive decision making. We have not yet asked any real
live executives in our organization what they might find useful in this
area. If this project moves forward, however, we will certainly will do some
organization-specific needs assessment before we design any program.

My questions for those of you who been involved in similar projects include
the following:
* What were the objectives of your executive decision making training
program?
* How long was your executive decision making training program?
* What models, tools, content, or activities did you cover in the
training program?
* Some organizations appear to offer decision making for executives
and problem solving for everybody else. What's the difference? Does it make
sense to limit a decision making course to executives only? Why or why not?
* What else do you think I should know before I pursue a project to
design and deliver a course in decision making for actual executives?

Just to be clear - if we do design and deliver this course, it will be for
federal executives - NOT for graduate students in organizational behavior or
management science!

Thanks in advance for any information or ideas you care to share.

William A. Weech (WeechWA@state.gov)
Leadership and Management School
Foreign Service Institute
Intranet: http://fsiweb.fsi.state.gov
Telephone: (703) 302-7198
> This e-mail is UNCLASSIFIED based on definitions provided in Executive
> Order 12958.
>

Colleagues,

William Weech asks about executive (leadership) decision making and what a
seminar would look like.

Concept: Decision making clusters in two phases:
1. Choice of vision and clarifying of vision
2. Choice of strategies and implementation of strategies

Concept: Decisions require a context of stakeholders.
Choice of stakeholder positions to honor
(i.e., customers for product or marketing decisions, board of
directors and investors for company strategic directions, etc.)
Inclusion of stakeholders in decision processes

Concept: Decision making refers to principles and strategic directions.
e.g., corporate mission, values,
Decisions are made in a context of other decisions. Part of visioning
is making core decisions that guide ongoing choices.

Concept: Decision making must first be strategic.
e.g., set long term goals first, then plan year objectives, then choose
strategies, then choose tactics. Far too much decision making starts with
tactics because those are easier and more immediate. Far too many resources
are spent on tactics not connected to corporate goals.

Concept: Decision processes can be taught.
Mine is called GOSPA - a collection of tools for goals to strategies.
Another of mine is called Rich Visioning[tm] - a collection of tools for
creating powerful, detailed, marketable visions at levels of company,
business, product/service, strategy, and event.

Concept: A seminar won't do the job.
People don't become strategic overnight.
Leadership can be learned, yet it takes time.
Consider integrating an assessment tool, initial training, and ongoing
coaching or mentoring. Indeed, the first step might be to train the coaches
and develop a group of facilitators who can guide decision processes as
leaders grow into the required skill sets.

William, teaching executive decision making is very similar to teaching
leadership.

Best to all,

Gary

----------------------------
Pre-planning accelerates strategy accelerates performance.

Gary Lundquist - The Accelerator
303-840-9929 www.market-engineering.com
garyl@market-engineering.com

From: Christie Mason [mailto:cmason@managersforum.com]

What I wonder is..
Does it make sense to limit a problem solving course to just executives?

Christie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Weech, William A" <WeechWA@state.gov>


....
* Some organizations appear to offer decision making for executives
and problem solving for everybody else. What's the difference? Does it
make
sense to limit a decision making course to executives only? Why or why
not?
....

Agreed. Problem solving should be emphasized throughout an organization. After all, aren't we saying it takes everyone in the organization thinking together to make it in today's fast-changing world? A good problem solver is difficult to find at ANY level.
Edryce
Charles Wankel <wankelc@optonline.net> wrote:From: Christie Mason [mailto:cmason@managersforum.com]

What I wonder is..
Does it make sense to limit a problem solving course to just executives?

Christie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Weech, William A"


....
* Some organizations appear to offer decision making for executives
and problem solving for everybody else. What's the difference? Does it
make
sense to limit a decision making course to executives only? Why or why
not?
....


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