FAQs
How is this different?
The Decision Arc examines how teams make decisions. Not individuals, not personalities or management styles. Where some approaches will recommend changing your people (or their personalities), The Decision Arc identifies the hidden patterns in collective decision-making that shape performance, and provides interventions to manage them.
Who is this for?
- Decision-making teams. They may be strategic or operational, in growth, stagnation, or crisis, large or small, revolutionary or incremental, but they have to be teams that make decisions.
- Teams that want to be more effective in their own style, not forced into someone else’s (which we know won’t last long).
- Leaders who want practical and effective interventions, whether as formal governance processes or as Tips for the Chair.
- Teams that have been together long enough to have seen each other at work.
Can a team have more than one Decision Posture?
A team has one Decision Posture but it’ll be distributed across the eight archetypal Decision Postures we’ve identified.
Sometimes, a team’s Decision Posture will show opposing tendencies (e.g. being Analytical and Action-Oriented), which is rich information, maybe indicating different perceptions within the team, or a genuine capacity to lean in opposing directions under pressure. Either way, we’ll cater for this distributiin with appropriate Decision Practices.
What’s the best Decision Posture?
There isn’t one.
Some Decision Postures are better suited to certain situations and opportunities, but they all carry costs in other situations. The point is not to have a ‘better’ Decision Posture, but to address the predictable, avoidable costs of the Decision Posture you have.
Can we change our Decision Posture?
Yes, but only slowly and with unpredictable results.
Decision Postures are emergent properties of the team, shaped by history, incentives and experience. They evolve naturally over time. So don’t focus on change, focus on minimising the costs of the Decision Posture you have, through implementing the right Decision Practices.
Who can see responses to the Decision Posture Assessment?
- Each team members’ responses are anonymous, we don’t track links or collect identifying information (like email or IP addresses).
- We see each of the anonymous responses separately and use them to map each respondents’ view of where the team is situated on the Decision Posture Map, which is then shared with the team.
How does a Decision Practice work?
It’s a team-specific intervention which reduces the predictable, avoidable costs arising from that team’s Decision Posture.
It includes a formal governance practice which is sufficiently detailed for you to see how it works and adapt it for how you work already (though we can help with that too, if you’d like). It also includes some less formal ‘Tips for the Chair’.
What are ‘Tips for the Chair’?
These are the informal side of Decision Practices, designed to help leaders see how their team are making decisions in real-time, and to shape what happens next. They take the form of example wording to listen out for, or dynamics to watch for within the team, as well as suggested interventions to steer the team towards success.
Why is the price independent of team size?
Insight improves with participation.
We don’t want you to trade insight off against cost, so we don’t limit the number of team members who can respond to your Decision Posture Assessment.
Is volume pricing available for multiple Decision Teams within our organisation?
It certainly is. Please email simon@thedecisionarc.com or schedule a call to discuss your needs.
Do you work with social enterprises, charities, NGOs, or government agencies?
Happily, and we also offer tailored pricing for teams in those sectors. Please email simon@thedecisionarc.com or schedule a call to discuss your work and how we can support you.
Can we share the results with the wider organisation?
Absolutely. The results are yours to share and use internally. We only ask that you don’t share them outside your organisation without our permission. (We’ll never share them without your permission.)
Our Terms & Conditions are here for you to review whenever you’d like.
Do you help us implement the Decision Practices?
You shouldn’t need us to, but if you feel it would be useful, we offer Governance Advisory services, delivered by our Founder, Simon Webber.
Can you observe our meetings to validate the assessment?
Yes, if you’d like us too. We can also present and explain the assessment to your team, or facilitate the implementation of the Decision Practices (see above).
These optional, additional services fall within our Governance Advisory work, delivered by our Founder, Simon Webber.
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