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Claridec Benchmark Assessment

Thank you for taking the time to participate in this important assessment! Your participation will be a beacon, guiding others in understanding the landscape of contemporary decision-making.

Assessment Purpose:

The assessment is aimed at reassessing the maturity of decision-making in the post-COVID era. As decision makers navigate this 'new normal,' understanding these changes is more crucial than ever.

Your Privacy is Our Priority:

No email addresses or personal data will be collected unless you optionally provide it at the end, ensuring your core responses remain anonymous.

Release of Findings:

The insights gained from the aggregated assessment results will be accessible in a report on our website.

About the Assessment Questions:

The assessment starts with a few demographic queries to contextualize your responses. These are followed by 10 benchmarking questions where you will rate the maturity of 10 dimensions of your organization's decision-making practices on a scale of 1-10. In addition to the numerical rating, we ask that you share the rationale for your rating in a few words. We've also provided further guidance that clarifies the maturity scale by providing a description of Levels 1, 5, and 10 for each decision making dimension to be rated (visible when the slider is near these values).

It should take about 7-10 minutes to complete the assessment.

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Answer all of the 10 survey questions based on your experience with a single organization. In selecting the single organization, choose the one that you're most familiar with over the past three years.
  2. Only consider important major decisions that involved an irrevocable allocation of significant resources.
  3. Be honest and thoughtful in your answers.

Demographics

Help us contextualize your responses.

Benchmark Questions

Rate the maturity (1-10) and provide rationale for each dimension.

Note that helpful guidance is provided when the dot is moved to 1, 5, or 10.

QUESTION 1: Framing

Framing is about setting the right context and boundaries for decision-making. At a minimum, it involves articulating the problem or opportunity at hand, understanding the key issues and stakeholder perspectives, and considering various alternatives. A well-defined frame is crucial for guiding the decision process and ensuring that all relevant aspects are considered.

Immediate pursuit of a preferred solutionDiverse perspectives shape frame
5
Level 5: When faced with a major or complex decision, we may have discussions with individual colleagues and management that may provide some insights but lack a structured approach to comprehensively and collaboratively exploring all relevant alternatives and perspectives.

QUESTION 2: Risk Quantification

Risk quantification involves identifying and measuring the uncertainties and potential risks that could impact the outcome of a decision. This step is essential for making informed choices, as it allows decision-makers to understand and weigh the possible consequences and probabilities associated with different alternatives.

No quantifyingSystematic quantifying
5
Level 5: When evaluating decision alternatives we identify and quantify key risks and uncertainties, sometimes through sensitivity analysis with percentage adjustments, but this is not applied consistently across all decisions.

QUESTION 3: Decision Dialogue

Decision dialogue refers to the communication and discussions that take place among decision-makers, decision analysts, and other stakeholders during the decision process. Effective dialogue ensures alignment, clarity, and buy-in from all involved parties, which is crucial for smooth decision-making and implementation.

Projects frequently delayedStructured dialogue drives buy-in
5
Level 5: Our decision dialogue is informal and somewhat ad hoc between project team, decision makers and stakeholders, which leads to partial alignment but often misses key insights or perspectives, limiting its effectiveness.

QUESTION 4: External Stakeholders

Engaging external stakeholders in decision-making is about considering the perspectives, needs, and impacts on those outside the organization. This engagement can provide valuable insights, enhance stakeholder relationships, and ensure decisions are well-rounded and account for external impacts.

Consult after decisionProactively integrate
5
Level 5: While we inform external stakeholders to the organisation about ongoing decisions and seek their input when necessary, this engagement is not consistently integrated into the decision-making process, leading to occasional misalignments.

QUESTION 5: Bias Awareness

Bias awareness in decision making acknowledges that cognitive biases, i.e., thinking shortcuts that are hard wired in the human brain, can skew judgment and lead to suboptimal decisions. Recognizing and actively working to mitigate these biases through structured processes and engaging diverse perspectives is key to making more objective and balanced decisions.

Biases not acknowledgedBiases systematically addressed
5
Level 5: We recognize cognitive biases and have basic measures like peer reviews to counter them, but these efforts are not comprehensive or consistently applied across decisions.

QUESTION 6: Collaborating to Align

Collaboration and alignment across different departments and disciplines are critical for coherent and effective decision making. It involves breaking down silos and ensuring that various parts of the organization work together towards common goals and understandings in decision processes.

Rigid silosCohesive & collaborative
5
Level 5: While we have instances of collaboration and methodological alignment between departments, these are not widespread or systematic, sometimes resulting in inconsistent decision-making quality.

QUESTION 7: Decision Governance

Decision governance refers to the framework and processes that define how decisions are made within an organization. This includes establishing clear roles, responsibilities, and accountability for decision-makers, and tailoring decision processes to the particular decision context to ensuring that decisions are made efficiently and effectively.

No decision accountabilityRobust governance framework
5
Level 5: We have a governance structure based on project investment levels, which provides some clarity, but it may not fully account for the complexity and cross-functional nature of decisions.

QUESTION 8: Lookbacks

Lookbacks involve reviewing and analyzing past decisions to glean lessons and insights. This retrospective approach is crucial for continuous improvement in decision-making processes, allowing organizations to learn from successes and failures.

No lookbacksRegularly conduct lookbacks
5
Level 5: Our decision lookbacks are primarily reactive, focusing on negative outcomes, which limits our ability to learn from successful decisions and fully understand our decision-making dynamics.

QUESTION 9: Risk Management

Risk management in decision making is about proactively identifying, analyzing, and handling risks before they become issues. It encompasses the strategies and tools used to manage potential threats and uncertainties, ensuring that decisions are robust and resilient.

Constant 'fire-fighting'Comprehensive system followed
5
Level 5: Our risk management approach, mainly focused on dealing with known risks at the corporate level, attempts to anticipate risks, but may not adequately address project-specific risks, leading to some blind spots in our risk landscape.

QUESTION 10: Learning Organization

Being a learning organization involves a commitment to ongoing development and improvement, especially in decision making skills. This dimension focuses on how the organization fosters learning and growth to enhance its effectiveness and adaptability in decision making.

Limited developmentCulture of continuous improvement
5
Level 5: While we offer some flexibility in training, the lack of a strategic approach to organizational learning means we may not fully develop the skills necessary for effective, organization-wide decision making.

Final Questions

Please share any insights the assessment triggered for you. These could include a needed focal point for your organisation, a new understanding of what high maturity looks like, or a personal takeaway about how to approach complex decisions in the future.

Interested in receiving a copy of the report with your scores benchmarked against others? If so, then please share your email.