As a campus recruiter I have been actively involved in hiring freshers from various Engineering colleges. And as a facilitator and trainer I have also actively engaged with experienced professionals from diverse academic inclinations and streams. An important (and sometimes big) challenge shared by both is "Making the best decision" in any given circumstances. But a bigger challenge was that neither groups recognized Decision Making as a specific skill required for professional success and leading a fulfilled and happy life.
Though it is one skill that plays the most critical role in building our career and shaping our lives, we usually do not pay enough attention for developing this skill in particular. Our learning systems and professional cultures lull us into believing that with experience we will also gain insight and wisdom. Nothing is further from the truth than this misplaced confidence. Notice how these self beliefs often quickly crumble when we deal with uncertainity. The Corona pandemic is a mute testimony to how quickly we lose our bearings and decision orientations in face of a crisis.
Initially I started this program with an aim to help freshers make better decisons in their professional careers. Indeed that's what we professionals get paid for. For the decisions that we make. Irrespective of whether we are the CEO of an organisation or just a frontline executive, our most important contribution towards our organisation are our decisions that we make every single day.
However, very soon I realized, that my own skills at making decisions were dated and needed attention. Thats when I started relearning from several sources. But before I could pick new skills the most difficult thing for me was to unlearn and let go my past understanding and beliefs about making decisions.
When we address a problem, we usually focus our attention on arriving at a solution. We never pay enough attention to the Reason (Step 1) and Understanding (Step 2) of the decision making process. In other words we seldom pause to frame the problem correctly and ask questions. We rush into devising or proposing our solution. This is exactly where I struggled. Pause and ask questions - many questions - before arriving at a decision.
This led me to revise and expand the program to cover each of the 5 subskills of Decision Making. Since I struggled with the unlearning part the most, I ensured that my workshop pays particularly attention on helping others unlearn.
This workshop is a cumulative result of my unlearning and relearning experience, and share those experiences with you in a meaningful and structured manner.