In a 2016 letter to shareholders, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said that he aimed to keep Amazon in “Day 1” — a state of vitality and optimism that comes with something new. One of the key ingredients for maintaining that state, he wrote, is “high-velocity decision-making.”
“To keep the energy and dynamism of Day 1, you have to somehow make high-quality, high-velocity decisions. Easy for start-ups and very challenging for large organizations,” Bezos wrote.
Now, it’s not just Amazon or startups or internet companies that face the challenge of making high-quality, high-velocity decisions. Our whole world seems to be moving faster than ever. Maybe too fast? More than 3 in 4 respondents (78%) said they feel “the world is changing too quickly,” according to the GlobeScan Radar Trends Report. This feeling is mirrored in the world of work, where the rate of change has risen 183% over the past four years, according to C-suite executives surveyed in Accenture’s Pulse of Change: 2024 Index.
In HR, “Day 1” vitality can be likened to onboarding new employees. Onboarding is often filled with excitement, optimism, and a focus on setting new hires up for success. But as time goes on, organizations sometimes fall into “Day 2” thinking — complacency, rigid processes, and slower decision-making.
By adopting Bezos’ “Day 1” approach, HR teams can maintain an adaptive mindset, making decisions quickly but effectively and using data and feedback to continuously improve processes — just as Amazon continually iterates to meet customer needs.
Organizations make more mistakes when managers feel pressured to move quickly. HR leaders need to understand how to use strategic frameworks to make better decisions when adapting to change — whether under time pressure or not.
Error No. 1: Relying on Intuition Without Data
It can be awfully tempting to go with your gut. You might even recall all the times your intuition has been correct — about people, business decisions, or ideas.
But that’s no guarantee your gut will be right this time.
Researchers at the University of Utah showed that people who made decisions faster were more likely to have their biases influence their choices. Slower decisions, the researchers found, are generally better decisions.
“One way to explain that is that they’re taking more time to accumulate more evidence and they’re getting a complete picture of everything they could possibly understand about the decision before they make it,” said the study’s lead author, mathematics graduate student Samantha Linn.
Intuition can aid decision-making — even fast decision-making. For people with substantial expertise and experience, intuition helps guide good decisions.
Naturalistic decision-making researchers “found that highly experienced individuals tend to compare patterns when making decisions,” according to a Scientific American article on intuition. “They are able to recognize regularities, repetitions and similarities between the information available to them and their past experiences. They then imagine how a given situation might play out. This combination enables them to make relevant decisions quickly and competently.”
How does this all play out in business and HR decisions? HR decision-makers often have significant experience and expertise but must also grapple with marketplace and industry uncertainty.
A MIT research scientist said in an episode of SHRM’s Tomorrowist podcast that decision-makers need to balance their intuition and data. He pointed to the practices of so-called “geek” companies — think Netflix or SpaceX, for example — in which data-obsessed staff can have as much decision-making influence as high-ranking executives.
In those organizations, McAfee said, decisions may involve a manager’s intuition, but data will be used to either confirm or argue against that intuition.
“The geeks say, ‘Hey, we want your intuition, we want all that stuff, but then we’re going to put it to the same test as we would the intuition of anybody else,’ ” McAfee said during the podcast episode.
One solution for HR professionals: Use people analytics to ground important decisions in data and facts. But to do so, it’s important that the HR team has the proper training to understand the data.
Error No. 2: Inadequate Communication Strategy
For most business processes — and most HR activities — making a decision is just the first step. Communicating that decision clearly and effectively is equally critical.
Poor or limited communication can increase uncertainty in an organization or, worse, allow rumors or misinformation to spread. On the other hand, clear communication helps employees understand company decisions and empowers them to manage their own roles and careers.
More-empowered employees are more-engaged employees.
“Empowered employees perform better and yield better enterprise results,” Cat Colella-Graham, founder and chief employee experience officer at Cheer Partners, wrote in a Forbes article. “Consider how HR can empower them in decision-making on the benefits you offer, in their career decisions and in their day-to-day lives. Your enterprise doesn’t have to embrace risk for the sake of reward unilaterally, but you can drive discretionary effort through communications tools.”
Clear and consistent communication helps foster trust in the workforce. Using the same channels in a consistent, predictable way helps employees know where to find reliable information. Timely communication is also important.
Leadership development expert Martin G. Moore wrote in a Harvard Business Review article that great decisions are timely and well communicated to stakeholders.
“The purpose of this communication is not to seek approval or consensus on how you will solve the problem,” Moore wrote. “Rather, you’re looking to bring everyone up to a consistent level of understanding, which is often necessary for the smooth implementation of a major decision.”
One way to strengthen your communication is to use storytelling.
“Humans, by nature, wrap our ideas and notions around story,” said Duracell’s Emmanuel Yamoah, vice president of research and development, in an episode of the Tomorrowist podcast. “It’s the best way for us to make them sticky and to be able to act on them. So, the better the story that we can tell, the better we’re able to convey and communicate.”
Error No. 3: Rigid Thinking and Complacency
Not only do HR leaders need to make smart decisions and communicate them effectively, but they also need to ensure they’re not sticking to outdated habits with their decisions.
Rigid thinking (“We’ve always done it this way, so that’s how we’re going to do it.”) can lead managers not to consider alternatives. Complacency (“That’s what’s in the handbook!”) can make it seem like there’s no need for change or that valid arguments stand against change.
“HR needs to focus again on taking care of workers and persuade management to change outdated policies on compensation, training and development, layoffs, vacancies, outsourcing, and restructuring,” wrote Peter Cappelli, a management professor at The Wharton School, and Ranya Nehmeh, former head of HR policies and development at the OPEC Fund for International Development, in a Harvard Business Review article.
A study from researchers at the University of Western Australia found that “rigid and centralized decision-making practices might be harming how highly conscientious employees—those who are diligent, productive, and ethically inclined—are perceived by others.”
One of the study’s authors, Associate Professor Alex Luksyte, said the research points out the importance of balancing formal rules and allowing appropriate flexibility. “This balance can be difficult to achieve, especially when considering different workplace dynamics and the need to ensure fairness, productivity, efficiency, and ethicality,” Luksyte said.
HR professionals who embrace continuous learning and seek to adopt better ways of working are less likely to get caught in rigid thinking patterns or complacency. Learning about the opportunities and challenges associated with emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, can help HR decision-makers understand all their potential choices when making decisions.
Deciding Faster and Better
Effective decision-making — getting it right and doing it quickly and efficiently — is challenging. HR leaders are constantly considering two priorities — the needs of the workforce and the needs of the organization. But by backing up their intuition with data, communicating powerfully, and avoiding rigid thinking and complacency, HR professionals are much more likely to be successful in meeting both needs.
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