II . Decision making
How to take the optimum decision regarding the fundraising strategy?
Decision making
Decision making is the process of making choices by identifying a decision, gathering information, and assessing alternative resolutions.
Using a step-by-step decision-making process or a collection of tools can help you make more deliberate, thoughtful decisions by organizing relevant information and defining alternatives. This approach increases the chances that you will choose the most satisfying alternative possible.
One of the most important traits of being a coordinator of an organisation or department is being able to take quick and good decisions. From the very beginning of your journey, you must make sound decisions on how to proceed with the communication and funding campaign, what interventions can create more impact and can be fulfilled with less effort. The key is to be decisive and learn from mistakes, rather than fearing mistakes to the point that you avoid decisions.
If a decision is reversible, we can make it fast and without perfect information. If a decision is irreversible, we had better slow down the decision-making process and ensure that we consider ample information and understand the problem as thoroughly as we can.
Vroom-Yetton decision model
The Vroom-Yetton decision model was created by Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton. They argued that the participation of colleagues in decision-making either benefits or hinders organizational effectiveness. The model advocates a set of guidelines governing the extent of subordinate involvement in decision-making. The model suggests that good decision making is based on context, requiring the leader to adapt their behavior based on the level of colleague’s participation.
The Vroom-Yetton process suggests that being autocratic, seeking advice, considering alternative approaches before a decision is made, briefing a group on an issue, and allowing that group to develop the solution without forcing your own ideas are all important at times.
There are seven questions Vroom and Yetton developed to help us paint a mental picture of the overall effect our decisions will have on the organization and, more importantly, our greatest assets: our members. The seven questions follow:
1. Is there a quality requirement? (i.e, is the nature of the solution critical)?
2. Do I have enough information to make the decision?
3. Is it a structured problem; are there alternatives?
4. How critical is subordinate acceptance to the outcome or implementation?
5. Would my subordinates accept my decision if I make it myself?
6. Do my subordinates have a personal stake in the solution?
7. Will there be conflict among subordinates when trying to reach a solution?
Bellow you can understand the decision tree and the paths associated with the answers to these questions. With the answer to each, the Vroom-Yetton model guides you closer to your objective.
Weighted Decision Matrix
The weighted decision matrix is a powerful quantitative technique. It evaluates a set of choices (for example, ideas or projects) against a set of criteria you need to consider. This is an exceptionally powerful when you must choose the best option and need to consider many criteria or when you need to allocate limited resources to multiple choices. By extensively evaluating your choices and quantifying the process, you’ll be able to completely remove emotion and guesswork from the decision process. This enables rational and objective decisions every time.
The decision matrix is extremely useful, specifically when you have many choices (such as different features, projects, and campaigns) or multiple decision criteria to consider (such as costs, risk, and beneficiary value) with similar or varying levels of importance.
How to create a weighted decision matrix
1. List different choices – Start by listing all the decision choices as rows. Don’t forget any relevant choices since these rows will form the foundation of your decision matrix.
2. Determine influencing criteria – Brainstorm what criteria will affect those decisions (like customer value, cost, effort, and effectiveness, for example). List these criteria as columns.
3. Rate your criteria – Rate each of these criteria in the columns using a number (the weight) to assess their importance and impact on your decision. Establish a clear (and consistent) rating scale for each one (for example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 leading from an insignificant to greater impact). This helps to calculate the relative importance of each criterion.
4. Rate each choice for each criterion – Evaluate your different choices against the criteria. While using the same rating system (in our case, from 1 through 5), rate each criterion individually. For each of these values, you must make sure that higher values represent preferable options.
5. Calculate the weighted scores – Multiply each of the choice ratings by their corresponding weight.
6. Calculate the total scores – Sum it up for each of the choices and compare the total scores.
7. Make your decision – The choice with the highest score is usually the one you should prioritize.
The How-Now-Wow matrix
The How-Now-Wow matrix is a selection tool in which a group weighs up each idea based on two parameters. Draw a 2-by-2 matrix – the horizontal axis represents the originality of the idea; the vertical one how easy it is to implement.
Label the quadrants as follows:
NOW – blue ideas: easy-to-implement ideas that solve problems and result in incremental benefits
HOW – yellow ideas: those that are a breakthrough in terms of impact, but im-possible to implement right now given your current resources.
WOW – green ideas: those that have the potential for orbit-shifting change and that you can implement given your resources.
100$ test
Add all of your ideas generated during brainstorming in a matrix with a space for a potential in-vestment in each one. Give each team member a hypothetical $100 to invest as they prefer – either everything into one idea or divided between more than one. Get them to write down why they made this decision, since it can be great input for decision making. After doing this individually, share your investments with the group, see which idea has the most money and go for it!
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