Intelligent Judgement

In a world of increasingly complex regulation, enhanced transparency, and growing executive accountability the judgement we exercise is more important than ever before. And yet, research shows us that half of leaders’ decisions will be wrong.

We are influenced by many variables: precedence; organisational culture; national norms; peer pressure; politics; and our unconscious biases all play a part. The pages of business journals and financial newspapers are strewn with case studies of what happens when the wrong judgement calls have been made. Senior leaders can be sidelined, sacked, sued or in extreme cases imprisoned. Companies may be required to make massive pay outs, reputational damage may have long term financial implications, and markets are lost. Expediency, ego, and conflicts of interest are implicitly condoned when no one speaks up. Therefore, good judgement involves not only making good decisions, but also responding appropriately to bad ones.

It’s clear that some people have better judgement than others. But what sets them apart? Although most people would say intelligence, that doesn’t account for the abundance of very smart people who continually make very bad decisions. Using a blended learning approach underpinned by a personal diagnostic questionnaire, case study discussion and insights from contemporary thinkers in the field we will guide you to:

recognise excellence in decision making
be more aware of what type of information you factor in to your decision making and how you prefer to receive and process that information
know whether your inclination is to avoid threats or lean in to rewards and what this means for the quality of your decision making
identify your decision making lens as being short term focused or future oriented
understand the implications of your preferences and how you respond when your decisions do not produce the desired outcome and you are held to account.