Decision Analysis refers to team members following a structured pro-
cess to facilitate, document, and align complex decisions. The decision analysis process involves four steps for clarifying and aligning decisions by scoring alternatives against weighted decision objectives in a grid. This process is helpful with any of three main styles for Effective Decision Making. However it is most often part of consultative decision-making. It is a powerful facilitation tool that supports Leading Through Narratives. The steps include the following (see Figure G.4):
- State the Decision: Use a short phrase that describes the decision to be taken. What is the purpose of the decision? Who is the decision maker?
- List and Weight Objectives: What are the “must” objectives? What are the “want” objectives? What are the relative weights (1–10) between these “wants”? “Must” objectives are initial threshold conditions for filtering alternatives.
- List and Score Alternatives: What are the “alternatives” to be evaluated? How do the “wants” score for each “alternative”? What are the total scores (weight × scores)?
- Best Balanced Choice: Are the risks for the highest-scoring “alternative” acceptable, and if not, is the next-highest scorer the best choice?
