Within an organization, decisions of varying importance and complexity are made every day by individuals—on their own, as part of ad hoc teams and committees, or within business units.  But it’s only when an implementable decision process, aligned with strategic goals, is put in place across the enterprise, that full Organizational Decision Quality (ODQ) can be achieved.

Beyond org charts. Organization and Decision Process Design encompasses the roles, responsibilities, practices, policies, and processes that govern and facilitate the way decisions are made within complex organizational settings.   It is not an org chart, or a one-size-fits-all process improvement formula, but a template for making decisions—and, just as important, executing them—at every level of the enterprise. In particular, it anticipates and addresses such questions as:

• What is the right scope of the decision and at what level of the organization should it be addressed?
• Who will serve on decision-making bodies?
• What elements must be in every decision project plan?
• How are roles assigned within the RACI matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed)?
• Which decisions will be handled internally, and which will require input from outside stakeholders?
• How often will decision-making bodies meet?

A critical challenge. Building  a robust organizational decision process framework that lasts through changes in leadership, structure and business strategy, is a daunting task—one that few organizations have fully accomplished. But as competition continues to drive adoption of ODQ, organizational design and process design is evolving from “nice to have” to “must have.”

If your organization is ready to take the next step toward ODQ, Strategic Decisions Group is ready to partner with you. Our capabilities include:

• Designing the decision processes and integrating them with other business processes inside the organization;
• Building the capabilities within the organization to handle the organizational complexity (the people side of the decision) as well as the analytical complexity; and
• A unique approach that builds on joint projects on current decisions (consulting), coaching of internal decision leaders to facilitate decision processes, and executive training and courses.

Design for value. Creating a comprehensive decision process and building it into a large organization requires doing a lot of things right and then having them all work well together. It represents  a major transformational challenge—but one that can yield immeasurable value.