October 27, 2021 • 30 mins
Welcome to Episode 8 & the third in our series of Smart Risks. In this episode we are exploring the all important tools to help you make better decisions. Last week we explored some of the decision making biases, this week we paired your profile with some of the biases to watch out for and offer tools to overcome these biases. In this Pod you will receive quick hacks, larger decision analysis systems and some watch outs for decisions making in teams.
ELEVATE CHALLENGE:
Take the 6Step/Decision tree model and use it to solve a decision you have been mulling over. Try writing down as much as possible, sleeping on your initial thoughts, then going out and researching the alternatives and probabilities. If this model doesn't work for you try one of the other larger decision systems discussed the OOC/EMR Tony Robbins model, or the decision pre-mortem.
Annie Duke 6 Step decision tool: https://wisdomfromexperts.com/to-make-a-good-decision-you-must-use-a-decision-tree-with-probabilities/
Tony Robbins OOC/EMR: https://www.tonyrobbins.com/ask-tony/making-tough-decisions/
Risk Profile Survey: https://www.elevatewithgrace.com.au/post/risk_profile_survey
SHOW NOTES
Collective thought leaders on the topic of decision making
Seth Godin, The Dip
Annie Duke, How to Decide
Mike Bayer, One Decision
Tony Robbins
Daniel Kahneman, Thinking Fast & Slow
Emma Isaacs, Winging It
Michelle Gibbings, Executive Coach & Author
Articles:
9 Steps of decision making: http://www.success.com
Fast Company: https://www.fastcompany.com/90613220/12-ways-to-overcome-bias-and-strengthen-decision-making-skills
HBR Psychological Safety at work: https://hbr.org/2021/06/4-steps-to-boost-psychological-safety-at-your-workplace
If you could like a free month of linked in learning: https://linkedin-learning.pxf.io/Elevate
If you are keen to check out any of the books we spoke about today: http://www.booktopia.kh4ffx.net/Elevate
**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
Music created by Claire's daughter Hannah
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Miranda (00:00):
Welcome to the Elevate with Grace podcast.
For women who are short on timeand long to take steps to create
success on their own terms.
Our aim is to curate and sharethe best tips, insights, and
knowledge from all of thecontent out there, and then take
the brain strain out of it, likegiving you the so what and some
immediate actionable steps foryou to seamlessly slot into your
life each week that will helppropel you from where you are to
(00:21):
where you want to be.
In each episode, we take a lookat one of the pillars of our
Elevate with Grace success onyour own terms" Model, where we
explore smart, risk-takingcultivating our careers and
fueling your financial power.
These three elements worktogether even better when we
look at them within the broadercontext of the big picture
aspirations we have for the lifethat we want while also paying
(00:41):
attention to not letting thatstuff that might be holding us
back get in our way.
Claire (00:45):
Hello there everyone.
It's Claire here and with me asalways is the fabulously
energetic Miranda.
We are both pumped and raring togo for extending our
conversation from our pod lastweek.
Where last week we talked aboutquality decision-making as
something that will help usembrace more risk taking.
This week we're going to shakedown some decision-making tools
that you can tap into when youwant to be more confident about
(01:07):
taking a risk.
We'll be looking at quickdecision-making tools and then
also some more complextechniques to help you assess
decisions.
As always we'll finish up withour action challenge for this
week.
Before we launch into the toolsand techniques.
I must say a quick, Hey, how youdoing to my partner in crime.
Hey, my friend how's tricks thisweek?
And how did you go with theaction challenge from last week
(01:28):
on coming up with the decisionyou need to make in your life
right now that you want to feelconfident about deciding what
you should do?
Miranda (01:35):
Well, look, I want to say that I am doing great.
I think we always want to hearthat when people ask how we are.
However, in true authenticspirit, I feel a little more
like a bond martini not todrink, but actually personally.
Shaken instead of stirred.
Some difficult conversations Itook on this week, left me a bit
shaking and on reflection Irecognize it's actually that
(01:56):
person's style was to attackwhen they didn't like what I was
saying.
So I think these moments arerelatively rare.
I've definitely gained someinsights and knowledge from
stepping up to the plate.
It does leave you shaken for aday or two.
But this, with some unplanneddays of also balancing a two
year old.
Uh, can't wait for lockdown toend and childcare to open again.
(02:16):
You know just puts you out ofbalance a little bit,.
But I am excited to be here andhaving this conversation with
you.
And, yeah, I think just excitedfrom the learnings I've been
able to gain from the week andgo, yep all right.
Bring it on.
With regards to the actionchallenge, a relatively easy one
for this week.
Just getting that decisionreally clear, writing down some
thoughts around it and superready to apply some hacks and
(02:37):
move my thoughts into action.
And take back that control.
Claire, how are you doing?
How was your week and how wasthe challenge?
Claire (02:43):
I'm sorry to hear that.
We're in such a tricky place atthe moment.
I've had a good week.
I've had a really good weekactually, and very much excited
for Melbourne to be opening backup again.
That really changed my mood alot.
I must admit.
But I've also overheard a coupleof quite intense altercations.
And I think we just all reallyneed to try and be kind at the
(03:06):
moment and also, not take toomuch too seriously, or just
shake it off really quickly, Isuppose.
But as usual, you're alwayslooking at the positive side of
all of that and moving on, sothat's really awesome.
With the decisions, coming outof lockdown and after the last
18 months that we've had, Idefinitely need to have a think
about some choices that I needto make holistically for myself
(03:28):
and my family and my work, soI'm looking forward to using a
couple of those against thecontent that we're talking about
today.
Cause I know after preparing forthe podcast that I need to do a
little bit more in terms ofbetter, more conscious
decision-making it'll be fun.
Miranda (03:44):
In last week's chat we geeked out a little on
decision-making biases andexactly what you're saying
there, Claire, I really do findthese so interesting.
And hopefully, they take awaythe mystery on how some people
seem to thrive, perhaps withoverconfidence and others are
being held back.
Some seem crazy unlucky with thedecisions they make.
(04:05):
And when you step back andunderstand the decision-making
process.
and decision-making biases.
You can say that people use thesame repeating loop over and
over again, even if it's not thesame decision, it's making those
similar mistakes.
So Being able to understand yourrisk profile.
If you haven't completed thesurvey yet, I really do urge you
to check that out.
I know you have Claire.
Knowing that risk profile andthen going into what those
(04:27):
biases are that maybe set you upthere.
So when you complete the riskprofile, we shoot you out this
bit of a guide on what thatmeans some of the biases that
you should look out for.
For example, if you score a oneto two, you're more of a risk
mitigator, your comfort zone isvery much on the safe edge then,
I think being willing to lean inand to use some of the
decision-making hacks that we'regoing to speak to you today to
(04:49):
give you super confidence aroundthe, planning that you put into
your decision making process isgoing to be a huge help.
If you're a two to three,operational risks can be more
comfortable.
Things like the sunk cost biasthat we spoke about last week
could be something that'sholding you back.
As a moderate risk taker, youmight be more comfortable with
operational and improvisationalrisks and that's where hindsight
(05:10):
bias and relating could actuallyhold you back from seeking some
bigger decisions becausesomething happened that didn't
quite work out last time so yousort of, I don't want to put
myself out there again, that'snot going to pay off.
Making sure that you're notholding yourself back from that
next opportunity by thinkingabout that risk takers and
alternate risk takers, brain'sprobably not wired for routine
(05:31):
and they tend to leap beforegiving opportunities enough
thoughts.
So we spoke a little bit lastweek about cognitive biases and
how important it was to reallyunderstand that your gut
instinct or your intuition cansometimes be a little bit
faulty.
So we've got some great hackshere on how to help to overcome
some of that cognitive bias andto make sure that, you can know
(05:51):
in yourself that you're makingright decisions.
I think a great point for us toremember in all of these is that
we can build our decision-makingmuscles.
I'm not just born with one typeof DNA and that's our lot in
life.
A great quote from Annie Duke.
I'm going to talk about her abit today.
is that calculated risk requirestools, skills and knowledge not
to be confused with a recklessgamble, smart risk-takers learn
(06:13):
quickly to calculate the gainloss ratio and walk away when
the math isn't in their favor.
Claire (06:18):
When you were talking about the different profiles of
risk-takers on the continuum, itgot me thinking about a couple
of articles I've read this weekabout how our biases can impact
how effective our decisions arein a virtual or hybrid
workplace.
I think having an awareness ofwhere you and also your
colleagues sit on the riskcontinuum can be helpful in
(06:38):
these situations.
For example, Harvard businessschool wrote an article in April
this year about whatpsychological safety looks like
in a hybrid workplace.
Psychological safety isbelieving that you can speak up
freely without worrying that youmight be punished or humiliated
for doing so.
According to the article, it'swell-established that
psychological safety is acritical driver of high quality
(07:01):
decision-making inorganizations.
In the last couple of years, aswe all know the boundaries
between work and life for themajority of us have become a lot
more blurry.
So having psychologically safediscussions around personal
issues and how it impacts thework to be done is challenging
because it's more likely totouch on some deep seated
aspects of people's identity,values and choices.
(07:23):
and from the different riskpersonalities that you were just
speaking to Miranda, I'mwondering if decisions in the
workplace may be swayed more towhat the risk taker
personalities in the team thinkand believe because they're more
likely to speak up and speak upquickly and be more confident.
Some actions to addresspsychological safety in a hybrid
workspace.
So that better quality decisionscan be made.
(07:46):
First is there needs to be anenvironment where the team is
able to have candid discussionsabout the full range of
challenges people areexperiencing in their whole of
life while also addressing thework that needs to be done and
decided on and delivered.
This helps have shared ownershipwhere everyone in the team feel
that they need to play acreative and responsible role in
(08:07):
helping decide on the bestcourse of action to get the work
delivered.
While now accomodating all ofthe different personal needs
that everyone in the team has.
Also being hyper-aware about,who's not speaking up in these
discussions is really important.
Decision-making could end upbeing skewed to the views of the
people that have the strongestvoices and so it's really
important for us all to be hyperdiligent about which of our
(08:28):
colleagues are not contributingto the conversation and thinking
about ways that we can make surethat their perspectives and
thoughts are included becauseit's so important to get that
balanced decision.
They also recommend startingsmall and taking baby steps.
So after we've gone from onetype of work culture to a very
(08:48):
different type of work culture,and most people might not
immediately want to bear theirmost risky challenges on the
table personally straightaway toeverybody.
And so starting by making smalldisclosures before tackling the
more complex issues anddecisions.
There's a nother article aboutsimilar type of thing around
five biases that might beruining your hybrid meetings by
(09:12):
Fast Company.
Those biases also talked todecision-making biases that we
were talking about last week.
And I just want to bring up acouple of them here, but it's
worth checking out the article.
One is termed the bike sheddingeffect.
Which is our tendency as groupsand teams to give a
disproportionate amount ofattention to trivial issues i.e.
What color should we paint thebike shed and postpone or avoid
(09:35):
the topics that require morecomplex or meaningful debate.
It's important to send thedetailed agenda out in advance
of the meetings so everyoneknows that they're expecting
some complex discussions to takeplace and that they have time to
think about their perspective.
The other one I wanted to callout is expedience bias.
We often have a preference forquick decisions and actions
(09:57):
rather than taking the time toget more clarity and understand.
I think we all have that.
If you remember from last week'spod in the book, thinking fast
and slow, it's the system onethinking our brains want to use
the most because it drains lessof our cognitive efforts.
But Equally, if you've got therisk takers in the room or the
virtual room that are.
(10:18):
Putting forward their viewsquickly, it can skew the
decisions that get made in theorganization the general message
is much more preparedness goinginto those meetings.
Whoops, I've dived right in withsome quick to implement tools
for teams to use to improve thequality of collective
decision-making.
Miranda, have you got any quickdecision-making tools that we
(10:40):
can use for our own individualdecision-making?
Miranda (10:44):
Claire.
I love that you brought up thethinking fast and slow book
because I've been reflecting onthat one.
And while system one isdefinitely an expedient measure.
I think there's some.
within that system one where wecan give ourselves a leave pass.
So Annie Duke calls this freerolls, where you mentally take
the stress out of decisions thatdon't matter.
You've got to have thatdiscipline.
It doesn't matter.
(11:04):
So whatever you grab out of thecupboards to wear, whatever you
throw on the plate to eat,whichever way you drive to work,
they're the type of things thatyou can do as a free role.
Heard people agonize I took thewrong route and it took so much
longer or it took me half anhour to get dressed this
morning.
You've got to really have thatdiscipline to go.
This is a free role.
It doesn't matter.
I need to focus my mental loadfor the key decisions that
matter.
(11:25):
When you do get to some of thosekey decisions, there's actually
a great tool called decisionstacking that seeks to take the
risk out of the decisions, byfinding ways to make the low
impact, easy to quit decisionsthat will help inform your high
high-impact harder to quitdecisions.
Beta testing is a great exampleof decision stacking.
I think decision stacking, is agreat way to start to build your
muscles.
(11:45):
one of the steps we're goinginto bit later is taking on and
trying to make some difficultdecisions regularly over the
next couple of months, whileyou're trying to build this
muscle.
And so if you do a bit of atest, but don't commit sometimes
this can be a great way.
So it might be actually justhaving that difficult
conversation without making thedecision.
In a way, building enoughinformation that when you come
(12:05):
to make a really difficultdecision, you've got all your
facts.
Beta testing and lets you gatherthat valuable information, it's
going to help inform those highimpact choices.
Even if the test goes poorly.
Well, actually you've learned alot from that.
So that's a win.
Claire (12:19):
I must admit you've, we'll come on to a bit later but
you've got to be totally fangirling over Annie Duke now as
well.
I found that article as I'mtalking it's about articles, but
I promise I'll get on to othermediums of content later on, I
found an article called ninetips for making smart decisions
fast.
And it would actually reallyquite compliment the free
(12:41):
rolling technique that you'vementioned from Annie Duke's
quite nicely.
Tip five is about clarifying inyour mind whether the decision
can be reversed and I reckonthat can help to get a bit
better at free rolling like adivot.
Doesn't that?
Can I take it back?
If I'm agonizing over, whetherthe buy something can I return
That sort of stuff.
A couple of other tips thatcould help build those free
rolling muscles as well enddecision stacking thing is to
(13:03):
have a daily decision quoter.
And so you, there's only so manydecisions you're going to make
in a day and also to put inplace habits that minimize
decision fatigue.
The Steve jobs, black polophenomenon that everyone always
talks about, whatever yourversion of that is.
Wearing your active way to bedanyone I went to a kid's
bookshop today to pick up abirthday present.
And I was telling the lady atthe bookstore at the counter
(13:26):
outside the store that I even inCOVID, I have not been able to
embrace online shopping becauseit requires me to make a
decision about a present fourweeks in advance.
And I just can't do that, but ithas to be last minute where I'm
forced to choose something.
It's about working out how youcan be aware of minimizing the
cognitive load on those basicsystem one decisions the final
(13:47):
tip in that article is aboutembracing uncertainty.
I want to come back to that onea bit later in the podcast,
because it's a critical conceptin terms of making decisions for
yourself.
Miranda (13:57):
And a big one for right now, I imagine.
For many of us, like thesimplest solution is always the
best.
There is some more complexdecision-making hacks as we go
through.
One simple thing is really justto understand what your worst
case and best case scenariocould be.
Even in uncertainty, it can beas simple as what is the best
outcome that can come out ofmaking this decision and what is
(14:20):
the worst.
In many cases, we focus so hardon the worst and we forget to
really consider the best.
it's back to that sort ofcalculated risk idea.
Know what your win loss ratio isbecause so often we're leaving a
whole lot of weight on the tablebecause we're worried about
getting a bit of sauce on ourface.
Claire (14:35):
In the thinking fast and slow book, they talk about a
loss aversion bias.
And actually we do worry aboutloss more than we think about
the wins.
Knowing that it's normal tothink that way, that's, going to
be your tendency and that youneed to be aware of and go,
well, what's the best thing thatcan happen what's the worst
thing that can happen, is greatadvice.
Miranda (14:55):
Consistent across all of the thought leaders that I
was checking out.
Practice with little decisionsand make a commitment within the
next month or two months toreally consider making active
decisions on a regular basis.
Visualize or live the decisionin your head.
Imagine that you made thatdecision, what does that look
like?
Where's that going to take you?
Brainstorming or brainwritingthe outcomes.
Trying to get down, all of thedifferent outcomes that could,
(15:16):
come out of this.
That's really helpful for abigger tip later on.
Ask for feedback with a mentoror a considered group.
Making sure that you've gotpeople within your work
environment or within your fieldof expertise that you can really
lean on for advice.
That was a big one that keptshowing up and just build that
network.
We're really not one forVisualize your future and the
universe will provide.
(15:37):
I do believe that, positivemindset is important, but a
thorough review of what can gowrong is really essential.
One of the other tips on that isthis idea of a decision pre
motion.
You've probably conductedpostmortems of projects in the
past.
This one's similar, but you canimagine what it will look like
if you don't succeed and putsome steps in place to avoid
these.
Sports coaches would do thisbefore heading into a big game.
(15:59):
And it makes sense for us to doit too.
An Annie Duke, example was Istudied where they, had a whole
heap of people who visualizedachieving a weight loss goal,
visualized it and imagined thatwere already there.
And then set up to go andachieve that versus those who
visualized failure andunderstanding what got in their
way.
Those that visualized failingactually achieved 26 more pounds
(16:21):
in weight loss, which isincredible because if you think
about it, if you've alreadyplanned this thing's going to
come up and I'm going to feelsad for myself and I'm going to
go into a chocolate bar.
Then you can put steps in placeto make sure there is no
chocolate bottles and thatyou've got something else to
fill that gap or that void ifyou're an emotional eater.
I've always approached the lifefrom almost too positive
mindset.
But I remember at GM insistingbefore big projects, what was
(16:44):
going to go wrong session beforethe final pH or before heading
into production on product.
And sometimes it seems a littleextreme, but I really loved it
because it helped catch problemsbefore they ever arose.
A very 360 approach todecision-making.
Claire (16:59):
I've used premortems a bit in, in business as well.
I think there is so muchrichness that we just don't do.
And probably it's getting moreand more the case where we're
not doing that rigorous, upfrontplanning, about getting clear on
the different scenarios.
What does failure look like?
What does success look like andhow bad is failure?
(17:20):
What's the worst that's going tohappen if I take that job and
it's a complete disaster orwhat's the worst that's going to
happen if I.
release podcast and no onelistens to it.
oh, that's about me.
Sorry.
At the end of Seth Godin's shortLinkedIn learning course that we
talked about in last week's podabout making better decisions
together, which are highlyrecommended.
(17:41):
And he's very engaging.
At the end, as you spoke about,there's a 15 minute interview
between Seth and Annie Duke.
A part of that interview istalking about quitting smart.
And when is the right time toquit.
Annie calls out that sticking tothings, having grit and
perseverance is seen as a virtueand quitting is seen as a vice.
She says that it actually shouldbe viewed in almost the opposite
(18:03):
light that we don't quit enoughwhen we should be quitting.
Because there's all thiscognitive behavioral, emotional
debris that interferes with ourability to know when to quit.
And she talks about that in thecontext of doing the
pre-mortems, because she saysthat if you quit on time, it
will feel like you quit tooearly.
(18:24):
as humans, we don't likeuncertainty.
We want certainty.
We want to know what theoutcome's going to be.
And so the point that if youquit on time, it will feel too
early is because we have astrong desire to know what the
end of the story will be.
what if I worked more with thatemployee on their performance?
What if I did more marriagecounseling?
What if I just try and one morecompany in these type of work?
(18:45):
As Seth highlights, life is along haul journey.
We're at this for decades anddecades and decades.
And so knowing when to walk awayis a skill that we need to get
much better at and thinkingabout that is a really good
strategy for you to makestrategic decisions about stick
or quit.
Seth has written a book aboutquitting called The Dip.
(19:06):
Knowing when to quit and when tostick, it's a short book.
It's less than 300 pages.
The what you will learn.
Podcasts has an episode coveringthe key points from the dip.
The premise of the book.
Is there anything you do in lifehas three different curves that
leads to three differentoutcomes.
The first one is the cul-de-sacwhere you work and work and
(19:26):
work, and nothing changes.
It doesn't get much worse or itdoesn't get much better.
You just sort of plot along.
In a cul-de-sac situation,increased effort does not lead
to increased rewards.
The second scenario is the cliffwhere you're steadily keeping
going up and up and up, andyou're quite happy that you're
going up, but then seeminglyunaware you suddenly fall right
(19:47):
off a cliff And then there's thethird one is the dip.
And this is the one that weshould all be aiming to be.
In the D you are fueled by goodwins early, you're getting lots
of good feedback and lots oflittle signals that are keeping
you going.
And then there is this pointwhere it gets hard and the deep
is that flat, boring, and longslog that's in the middle.
And the dip is when most peoplequit.
(20:10):
But for those that perseverethrough the dip, then they will
get to this big exponentialsuccess part that's right at the
end of the curve.
And so it's when you're in thedip that you really need to be
paying attention to yourdecision-making because it's
where you need to be figuringout whether your, in the dip and
exponential successes at theend, or whether you're sitting
(20:31):
in a col-de-sac or you'reheading towards a cliff.
The decision-making strategy inthe book is that you need.
To quit the cliffs and the culde sacs, because all the effort
and time and money that you'reputting into them are taking
away from the effort that youshould be putting into your
dips.
It's about strategic quitting.
You need to work out and I mean,million dollars for how you work
(20:54):
this out, because none of ushave.
2020 hindsight.
That's where decision-makingtools come in.
Right?
Because you need to look out ifyou're in a dip and distinguish
it from heading off a cliff orbeing in a cul-de-sac.
That's linked to Annie Duke'spre-mortem technique, because as
part of that, you should beplanning out in advance the
parameters for yourself thatwhen they come up, they will
signal to you that that's timeto quit.
(21:16):
So you should have some thingsin advance as you're planning to
say, right, is this, this orthis happens, then that needs to
be a red flag to me that Ishould be thinking about.
Miranda (21:26):
I really like it.
There's a another one, thatAnnie Duke has for this type of
scenario, she calls it a sixstep process.
A bit more like a decision tree,I've used decision trees in the
business world, but in thisinstance where you're talking, a
decision tree would be fantasticfor deciding to take on a new
job.
Also fascinated by thesecul-de-sacs and cliffs.
Because if you could do the workto try and find out where you're
(21:48):
at.
And then a decision tree isgoing to help you explore the
options, what it could look likeif you did, and didn't take the
job decision trees, then take itfurther to going okay.
If you perform well, and lovethe team, that might be one
scenario, but what if youperform well, but the team
doesn't like you.
What does that look like?
What kept, another scenariowhere if you perform poorly,
what does that mean?
And apply percentages to each ofthe different options.
(22:11):
So you get this tree of, this ismy decision.
These are some of the scenariosthat could happen.
This is the likelihood of thathappening.
And then you go out and do someresearch.
To try and find out thatpercentage of what that
likelihood is.
In this instance, if you'relooking for a job, then you
might go and have a look onLinkedIn to see what the
turnover rate is.
(22:32):
Or you might follow a couple ofpeople from that organization,
maybe even reach out to have aconversation with one or two,
just to make sure that it is theright fit for you.
Doing that background work,doing some research into the
history of the company and findout.
Gaining as much information asyou can.
Then you've got this reallycool, smart decision-making
tool, which is going to help youset up for multiple outcomes,
(22:52):
you know, you've researchedthose outcomes and then
hopefully you're going to feelvery confident, but it is
actually also going to stop thecognitive bias issues.
It's going to stop the hindsightbias and the relating, because
you're doing a lot of that workupfront.
You are going to be using thatbrain writing or the brainstorms
to try and answer what theparameters are.
You're going to be using alittle bit of the pre-mortems
cause you're trying to think ofall the things that can go wrong
(23:14):
and you formalizing it down on abit of paper.
I really like this tool.
It's a much better way than apro con list.
Much more three-dimensional.
and again, this one's from AnnieDuke, so she's got an
interesting perspective.
Claire?
Do you remember decision trees?
Have you ever thought ofapplying them to your personal
life or your personal decisions?
Claire (23:30):
do you remember them?
I think it can give you a lot ofconfidence because we're so
afraid of failure.
Like we're so afraid of thelosses, right?
So I think if you put them downon paper at the very beginning,
they then may eventually wait.
They may not.
But knowing that they're thereand making the decision about
how comfortable you are withthose scenarios playing out.
You can take a lot of stress andmental load out about them.
(23:54):
I don't think I've actually usedone since we're at business,
it's so hard because we're sopressed for time and we really
do need.
Space and time and writing.
It can't just be in your head.
That's the key thing as well,you need to get some of this
stuff out.
So on that the iconic TonyRobbins has got a, making tough
decisions article on hiswebsite, and it's a six step
(24:17):
process that he calls OOC/EMRnot very easy acronym to stay
in, stands for outcomes,options, consequences, evaluate,
mitigate, resolve.
It gives you that steps andtechnique.
But what he also has is asection at the end about
addressing your fear of makingtough decisions.
It gets you to reflect on well,what's causing your fear and ask
(24:40):
yourself things like.
Who am I really doing this for?
What will I regret the most?
If I do whatever I don't do itand that sort of stuff.
It's skewing our decision.
That's not cost bias and lookingat it from using the, any duke
six step method or a decisiontree.
There's a lot of good stuff,that can come from us doing
this.
More.
The tricky is like, we alwaystalk about on this podcast is
(25:03):
even a little bit you don't haveto sit down tomorrow and clear
your day with massive decisiontrees and big white boards in
your house.
That's not going to bepractical, just having those
thought bubbles in the back ofyour mind, that this is some
things that you really shouldthink about as you're thinking
about a new job or.
How can I take out some of thatcognitive load?
Because I could just have thesame thing for breakfast and
(25:24):
just being aware that there's alot of stuff that you can do to
make that cognitive exerciseeasier.
And then it will help you bebraver and take bigger risks,
which is what we need to get alife of success in their own
terms, yeah?
Miranda (25:38):
Absolutely.
Some seriously good hacks there.
I hope that all of our listenersare really enjoyed, going
through a bit more of a deeperunderstanding of how these
biases could impact yourdecision making, particularly
depending on what your riskprofile is.
Some quick hacks and somesimple.
To help you make some of thosequicker decisions.
Some more recommendations onthose free rolls or how to deal
with some of those system onethinking and so more complex
(26:01):
tools for those biggerdecisions.
Loved the idea of those dips,cliffs and cul de sacs.
So I think, that'd be a fun oneto apply the decision tree, the
post-mortem and also this tinyRobbins model.
I've got to look that one upagain at O O C E M.
Uh, we'll have to put that linkin the show notes just so you'd
have to write it down.
All right.
So that brings us to the end ofthis podcast.
(26:23):
I think that we are going tohave to do an action challenge
where we really dive into takingthat decision that you thought
about last week and trying touse one of these models, whether
it's the decision tree model orit's one of the other models
that we spoke about today andthinking about the biases that
you naturally would take to thisdecision.
Making sure that you've writtenthem down so you can very much
(26:43):
articulate what that risk is andthen trying those decision
matrixes to see how you'd go andhow you can form that decision.
Give yourself a little bit oftime to really not out, to
brainstorm on paper rain, right?
To do a little bit of researchonline, to try to help you form
your decision.
Sleep on it overnight and thenpick it up the next day and have
a good, have a look and see whatthat looks like for you.
(27:03):
We can definitely promise thatwhatever that decision is that
you make at least you'll knowthat you're going into it eyes
wide open.
We'll put the decision treematrix in the show notes and I
hope you really enjoyed it.
Claire (27:15):
It's about practical application.
So I think that's a great actionfor us to explore some of the
techniques that we've talkedabout and see how we can pick a
couple of them up with adecision tree.
One in terms of making somedecisions as we spoke about last
week.
Yeah, there's a lot of peopleare thinking about what they
want their life to look likepost COVID in terms of work in
(27:35):
terms of whole of life.
And so I feel like this is quitea topical time to be providing
some extra techniques, tools,tips, to use to really, get that
stuff happening for yourself ina way that you feel more
comfortable and brave to takethe risks that you need to take.
Before we finished as acompletely random side note.
If you want to seedecision-making and risk-taking
(27:57):
playing out to the extreme, Ican recommend the Korean show
Squid Game.
That's on Netflix at the moment.
It is decision making andrisk-taking on steroids.
Different.
I have two more episodes to go,which we'll probably watch out
after these podcast.
Although I do have to say, uh,viewer discretion is strongly,
(28:19):
strongly advised.
Honestly, it's actually quite aserious announcement.
It has an intense amount ofblood and gore in it.
It is go pawn to the extreme.
So if you find with that, it'sa, it's an excellent show.
I can highly recommend it.
It's crazy.
In our next episode, we're goingto be doing our second book
review.
I'm so excited.
As, as I know you will be.
Miranda is because we do love agood book review.
(28:41):
We will be reviewing winging itby Emma Iasaacs.
Which is about gettingcomfortable with being
uncomfortable, talking about alot of the stuff that they're
talking about in the last fewweeks, try things before you're
ready, less second guessingyourself.
It's about getting yourconfidence up to take smarter
breadth of risks that will helpyou propel you forward faster to
having the life you want on yourterms.
(29:02):
Emma has just released anotherbook called the new hustle,
which we'll weave into our book.
Review it a little bit next weekas well.
As always, please be sure tovisit our Insta posts for
bite-size.
Inspiration to please emailus@elevatewithgraceatgmail.com.
With any feedback forwards orsuggestions we would love to
hear from you.
(29:23):
And if you're interested in anyof the book titles that we've
discussed or in checking outLinkedIn learning, there are
some links to them in our shownotes and on our website,
www.elevatewithgrace.com to you.
we would be super grateful ifyou would use those links.
And that pretty much brings usto the end of the pot episode.
Thank you listeners.
Thank you Miranda also, greatconversation again,
Miranda (29:47):
so much fun.
Thank you, Claire.
Thank you, listeners.
And I look forward to doing itnext time,
Claire (29:51):
See you next time
Welcome to the Elevate with Grace podcast.
For women who are short on timeand long to take steps to create
success on their own terms.
Our aim is to curate and sharethe best tips, insights, and
knowledge from all of thecontent out there, and then take
the brain strain out of it, likegiving you the so what and some
immediate actionable steps foryou to seamlessly slot into your
life each week that will helppropel you from where you are to
(00:21):
where you want to be.
In each episode, we take a lookat one of the pillars of our
Elevate with Grace success onyour own terms" Model, where we
explore smart, risk-takingcultivating our careers and
fueling your financial power.
These three elements worktogether even better when we
look at them within the broadercontext of the big picture
aspirations we have for the lifethat we want while also paying
(00:41):
attention to not letting thatstuff that might be holding us
back get in our way.
Claire (00:45):
Hello there everyone.
It's Claire here and with me asalways is the fabulously
energetic Miranda.
We are both pumped and raring togo for extending our
conversation from our pod lastweek.
Where last week we talked aboutquality decision-making as
something that will help usembrace more risk taking.
This week we're going to shakedown some decision-making tools
that you can tap into when youwant to be more confident about
(01:07):
taking a risk.
We'll be looking at quickdecision-making tools and then
also some more complextechniques to help you assess
decisions.
As always we'll finish up withour action challenge for this
week.
Before we launch into the toolsand techniques.
I must say a quick, Hey, how youdoing to my partner in crime.
Hey, my friend how's tricks thisweek?
And how did you go with theaction challenge from last week
(01:28):
on coming up with the decisionyou need to make in your life
right now that you want to feelconfident about deciding what
you should do?
Miranda (01:35):
Well, look, I want to say that I am doing great.
I think we always want to hearthat when people ask how we are.
However, in true authenticspirit, I feel a little more
like a bond martini not todrink, but actually personally.
Shaken instead of stirred.
Some difficult conversations Itook on this week, left me a bit
shaking and on reflection Irecognize it's actually that
(01:56):
person's style was to attackwhen they didn't like what I was
saying.
So I think these moments arerelatively rare.
I've definitely gained someinsights and knowledge from
stepping up to the plate.
It does leave you shaken for aday or two.
But this, with some unplanneddays of also balancing a two
year old.
Uh, can't wait for lockdown toend and childcare to open again.
(02:16):
You know just puts you out ofbalance a little bit,.
But I am excited to be here andhaving this conversation with
you.
And, yeah, I think just excitedfrom the learnings I've been
able to gain from the week andgo, yep all right.
Bring it on.
With regards to the actionchallenge, a relatively easy one
for this week.
Just getting that decisionreally clear, writing down some
thoughts around it and superready to apply some hacks and
(02:37):
move my thoughts into action.
And take back that control.
Claire, how are you doing?
How was your week and how wasthe challenge?
Claire (02:43):
I'm sorry to hear that.
We're in such a tricky place atthe moment.
I've had a good week.
I've had a really good weekactually, and very much excited
for Melbourne to be opening backup again.
That really changed my mood alot.
I must admit.
But I've also overheard a coupleof quite intense altercations.
And I think we just all reallyneed to try and be kind at the
(03:06):
moment and also, not take toomuch too seriously, or just
shake it off really quickly, Isuppose.
But as usual, you're alwayslooking at the positive side of
all of that and moving on, sothat's really awesome.
With the decisions, coming outof lockdown and after the last
18 months that we've had, Idefinitely need to have a think
about some choices that I needto make holistically for myself
(03:28):
and my family and my work, soI'm looking forward to using a
couple of those against thecontent that we're talking about
today.
Cause I know after preparing forthe podcast that I need to do a
little bit more in terms ofbetter, more conscious
decision-making it'll be fun.
Miranda (03:44):
In last week's chat we geeked out a little on
decision-making biases andexactly what you're saying
there, Claire, I really do findthese so interesting.
And hopefully, they take awaythe mystery on how some people
seem to thrive, perhaps withoverconfidence and others are
being held back.
Some seem crazy unlucky with thedecisions they make.
(04:05):
And when you step back andunderstand the decision-making
process.
and decision-making biases.
You can say that people use thesame repeating loop over and
over again, even if it's not thesame decision, it's making those
similar mistakes.
So Being able to understand yourrisk profile.
If you haven't completed thesurvey yet, I really do urge you
to check that out.
I know you have Claire.
Knowing that risk profile andthen going into what those
(04:27):
biases are that maybe set you upthere.
So when you complete the riskprofile, we shoot you out this
bit of a guide on what thatmeans some of the biases that
you should look out for.
For example, if you score a oneto two, you're more of a risk
mitigator, your comfort zone isvery much on the safe edge then,
I think being willing to lean inand to use some of the
decision-making hacks that we'regoing to speak to you today to
(04:49):
give you super confidence aroundthe, planning that you put into
your decision making process isgoing to be a huge help.
If you're a two to three,operational risks can be more
comfortable.
Things like the sunk cost biasthat we spoke about last week
could be something that'sholding you back.
As a moderate risk taker, youmight be more comfortable with
operational and improvisationalrisks and that's where hindsight
(05:10):
bias and relating could actuallyhold you back from seeking some
bigger decisions becausesomething happened that didn't
quite work out last time so yousort of, I don't want to put
myself out there again, that'snot going to pay off.
Making sure that you're notholding yourself back from that
next opportunity by thinkingabout that risk takers and
alternate risk takers, brain'sprobably not wired for routine
(05:31):
and they tend to leap beforegiving opportunities enough
thoughts.
So we spoke a little bit lastweek about cognitive biases and
how important it was to reallyunderstand that your gut
instinct or your intuition cansometimes be a little bit
faulty.
So we've got some great hackshere on how to help to overcome
some of that cognitive bias andto make sure that, you can know
(05:51):
in yourself that you're makingright decisions.
I think a great point for us toremember in all of these is that
we can build our decision-makingmuscles.
I'm not just born with one typeof DNA and that's our lot in
life.
A great quote from Annie Duke.
I'm going to talk about her abit today.
is that calculated risk requirestools, skills and knowledge not
to be confused with a recklessgamble, smart risk-takers learn
(06:13):
quickly to calculate the gainloss ratio and walk away when
the math isn't in their favor.
Claire (06:18):
When you were talking about the different profiles of
risk-takers on the continuum, itgot me thinking about a couple
of articles I've read this weekabout how our biases can impact
how effective our decisions arein a virtual or hybrid
workplace.
I think having an awareness ofwhere you and also your
colleagues sit on the riskcontinuum can be helpful in
(06:38):
these situations.
For example, Harvard businessschool wrote an article in April
this year about whatpsychological safety looks like
in a hybrid workplace.
Psychological safety isbelieving that you can speak up
freely without worrying that youmight be punished or humiliated
for doing so.
According to the article, it'swell-established that
psychological safety is acritical driver of high quality
(07:01):
decision-making inorganizations.
In the last couple of years, aswe all know the boundaries
between work and life for themajority of us have become a lot
more blurry.
So having psychologically safediscussions around personal
issues and how it impacts thework to be done is challenging
because it's more likely totouch on some deep seated
aspects of people's identity,values and choices.
(07:23):
and from the different riskpersonalities that you were just
speaking to Miranda, I'mwondering if decisions in the
workplace may be swayed more towhat the risk taker
personalities in the team thinkand believe because they're more
likely to speak up and speak upquickly and be more confident.
Some actions to addresspsychological safety in a hybrid
workspace.
So that better quality decisionscan be made.
(07:46):
First is there needs to be anenvironment where the team is
able to have candid discussionsabout the full range of
challenges people areexperiencing in their whole of
life while also addressing thework that needs to be done and
decided on and delivered.
This helps have shared ownershipwhere everyone in the team feel
that they need to play acreative and responsible role in
(08:07):
helping decide on the bestcourse of action to get the work
delivered.
While now accomodating all ofthe different personal needs
that everyone in the team has.
Also being hyper-aware about,who's not speaking up in these
discussions is really important.
Decision-making could end upbeing skewed to the views of the
people that have the strongestvoices and so it's really
important for us all to be hyperdiligent about which of our
(08:28):
colleagues are not contributingto the conversation and thinking
about ways that we can make surethat their perspectives and
thoughts are included becauseit's so important to get that
balanced decision.
They also recommend startingsmall and taking baby steps.
So after we've gone from onetype of work culture to a very
(08:48):
different type of work culture,and most people might not
immediately want to bear theirmost risky challenges on the
table personally straightaway toeverybody.
And so starting by making smalldisclosures before tackling the
more complex issues anddecisions.
There's a nother article aboutsimilar type of thing around
five biases that might beruining your hybrid meetings by
(09:12):
Fast Company.
Those biases also talked todecision-making biases that we
were talking about last week.
And I just want to bring up acouple of them here, but it's
worth checking out the article.
One is termed the bike sheddingeffect.
Which is our tendency as groupsand teams to give a
disproportionate amount ofattention to trivial issues i.e.
What color should we paint thebike shed and postpone or avoid
(09:35):
the topics that require morecomplex or meaningful debate.
It's important to send thedetailed agenda out in advance
of the meetings so everyoneknows that they're expecting
some complex discussions to takeplace and that they have time to
think about their perspective.
The other one I wanted to callout is expedience bias.
We often have a preference forquick decisions and actions
(09:57):
rather than taking the time toget more clarity and understand.
I think we all have that.
If you remember from last week'spod in the book, thinking fast
and slow, it's the system onethinking our brains want to use
the most because it drains lessof our cognitive efforts.
But Equally, if you've got therisk takers in the room or the
virtual room that are.
(10:18):
Putting forward their viewsquickly, it can skew the
decisions that get made in theorganization the general message
is much more preparedness goinginto those meetings.
Whoops, I've dived right in withsome quick to implement tools
for teams to use to improve thequality of collective
decision-making.
Miranda, have you got any quickdecision-making tools that we
(10:40):
can use for our own individualdecision-making?
Miranda (10:44):
Claire.
I love that you brought up thethinking fast and slow book
because I've been reflecting onthat one.
And while system one isdefinitely an expedient measure.
I think there's some.
within that system one where wecan give ourselves a leave pass.
So Annie Duke calls this freerolls, where you mentally take
the stress out of decisions thatdon't matter.
You've got to have thatdiscipline.
It doesn't matter.
(11:04):
So whatever you grab out of thecupboards to wear, whatever you
throw on the plate to eat,whichever way you drive to work,
they're the type of things thatyou can do as a free role.
Heard people agonize I took thewrong route and it took so much
longer or it took me half anhour to get dressed this
morning.
You've got to really have thatdiscipline to go.
This is a free role.
It doesn't matter.
I need to focus my mental loadfor the key decisions that
matter.
(11:25):
When you do get to some of thosekey decisions, there's actually
a great tool called decisionstacking that seeks to take the
risk out of the decisions, byfinding ways to make the low
impact, easy to quit decisionsthat will help inform your high
high-impact harder to quitdecisions.
Beta testing is a great exampleof decision stacking.
I think decision stacking, is agreat way to start to build your
muscles.
(11:45):
one of the steps we're goinginto bit later is taking on and
trying to make some difficultdecisions regularly over the
next couple of months, whileyou're trying to build this
muscle.
And so if you do a bit of atest, but don't commit sometimes
this can be a great way.
So it might be actually justhaving that difficult
conversation without making thedecision.
In a way, building enoughinformation that when you come
(12:05):
to make a really difficultdecision, you've got all your
facts.
Beta testing and lets you gatherthat valuable information, it's
going to help inform those highimpact choices.
Even if the test goes poorly.
Well, actually you've learned alot from that.
So that's a win.
Claire (12:19):
I must admit you've, we'll come on to a bit later but
you've got to be totally fangirling over Annie Duke now as
well.
I found that article as I'mtalking it's about articles, but
I promise I'll get on to othermediums of content later on, I
found an article called ninetips for making smart decisions
fast.
And it would actually reallyquite compliment the free
(12:41):
rolling technique that you'vementioned from Annie Duke's
quite nicely.
Tip five is about clarifying inyour mind whether the decision
can be reversed and I reckonthat can help to get a bit
better at free rolling like adivot.
Doesn't that?
Can I take it back?
If I'm agonizing over, whetherthe buy something can I return
That sort of stuff.
A couple of other tips thatcould help build those free
rolling muscles as well enddecision stacking thing is to
(13:03):
have a daily decision quoter.
And so you, there's only so manydecisions you're going to make
in a day and also to put inplace habits that minimize
decision fatigue.
The Steve jobs, black polophenomenon that everyone always
talks about, whatever yourversion of that is.
Wearing your active way to bedanyone I went to a kid's
bookshop today to pick up abirthday present.
And I was telling the lady atthe bookstore at the counter
(13:26):
outside the store that I even inCOVID, I have not been able to
embrace online shopping becauseit requires me to make a
decision about a present fourweeks in advance.
And I just can't do that, but ithas to be last minute where I'm
forced to choose something.
It's about working out how youcan be aware of minimizing the
cognitive load on those basicsystem one decisions the final
(13:47):
tip in that article is aboutembracing uncertainty.
I want to come back to that onea bit later in the podcast,
because it's a critical conceptin terms of making decisions for
yourself.
Miranda (13:57):
And a big one for right now, I imagine.
For many of us, like thesimplest solution is always the
best.
There is some more complexdecision-making hacks as we go
through.
One simple thing is really justto understand what your worst
case and best case scenariocould be.
Even in uncertainty, it can beas simple as what is the best
outcome that can come out ofmaking this decision and what is
(14:20):
the worst.
In many cases, we focus so hardon the worst and we forget to
really consider the best.
it's back to that sort ofcalculated risk idea.
Know what your win loss ratio isbecause so often we're leaving a
whole lot of weight on the tablebecause we're worried about
getting a bit of sauce on ourface.
Claire (14:35):
In the thinking fast and slow book, they talk about a
loss aversion bias.
And actually we do worry aboutloss more than we think about
the wins.
Knowing that it's normal tothink that way, that's, going to
be your tendency and that youneed to be aware of and go,
well, what's the best thing thatcan happen what's the worst
thing that can happen, is greatadvice.
Miranda (14:55):
Consistent across all of the thought leaders that I
was checking out.
Practice with little decisionsand make a commitment within the
next month or two months toreally consider making active
decisions on a regular basis.
Visualize or live the decisionin your head.
Imagine that you made thatdecision, what does that look
like?
Where's that going to take you?
Brainstorming or brainwritingthe outcomes.
Trying to get down, all of thedifferent outcomes that could,
(15:16):
come out of this.
That's really helpful for abigger tip later on.
Ask for feedback with a mentoror a considered group.
Making sure that you've gotpeople within your work
environment or within your fieldof expertise that you can really
lean on for advice.
That was a big one that keptshowing up and just build that
network.
We're really not one forVisualize your future and the
universe will provide.
(15:37):
I do believe that, positivemindset is important, but a
thorough review of what can gowrong is really essential.
One of the other tips on that isthis idea of a decision pre
motion.
You've probably conductedpostmortems of projects in the
past.
This one's similar, but you canimagine what it will look like
if you don't succeed and putsome steps in place to avoid
these.
Sports coaches would do thisbefore heading into a big game.
(15:59):
And it makes sense for us to doit too.
An Annie Duke, example was Istudied where they, had a whole
heap of people who visualizedachieving a weight loss goal,
visualized it and imagined thatwere already there.
And then set up to go andachieve that versus those who
visualized failure andunderstanding what got in their
way.
Those that visualized failingactually achieved 26 more pounds
(16:21):
in weight loss, which isincredible because if you think
about it, if you've alreadyplanned this thing's going to
come up and I'm going to feelsad for myself and I'm going to
go into a chocolate bar.
Then you can put steps in placeto make sure there is no
chocolate bottles and thatyou've got something else to
fill that gap or that void ifyou're an emotional eater.
I've always approached the lifefrom almost too positive
mindset.
But I remember at GM insistingbefore big projects, what was
(16:44):
going to go wrong session beforethe final pH or before heading
into production on product.
And sometimes it seems a littleextreme, but I really loved it
because it helped catch problemsbefore they ever arose.
A very 360 approach todecision-making.
Claire (16:59):
I've used premortems a bit in, in business as well.
I think there is so muchrichness that we just don't do.
And probably it's getting moreand more the case where we're
not doing that rigorous, upfrontplanning, about getting clear on
the different scenarios.
What does failure look like?
What does success look like andhow bad is failure?
(17:20):
What's the worst that's going tohappen if I take that job and
it's a complete disaster orwhat's the worst that's going to
happen if I.
release podcast and no onelistens to it.
oh, that's about me.
Sorry.
At the end of Seth Godin's shortLinkedIn learning course that we
talked about in last week's podabout making better decisions
together, which are highlyrecommended.
(17:41):
And he's very engaging.
At the end, as you spoke about,there's a 15 minute interview
between Seth and Annie Duke.
A part of that interview istalking about quitting smart.
And when is the right time toquit.
Annie calls out that sticking tothings, having grit and
perseverance is seen as a virtueand quitting is seen as a vice.
She says that it actually shouldbe viewed in almost the opposite
(18:03):
light that we don't quit enoughwhen we should be quitting.
Because there's all thiscognitive behavioral, emotional
debris that interferes with ourability to know when to quit.
And she talks about that in thecontext of doing the
pre-mortems, because she saysthat if you quit on time, it
will feel like you quit tooearly.
(18:24):
as humans, we don't likeuncertainty.
We want certainty.
We want to know what theoutcome's going to be.
And so the point that if youquit on time, it will feel too
early is because we have astrong desire to know what the
end of the story will be.
what if I worked more with thatemployee on their performance?
What if I did more marriagecounseling?
What if I just try and one morecompany in these type of work?
(18:45):
As Seth highlights, life is along haul journey.
We're at this for decades anddecades and decades.
And so knowing when to walk awayis a skill that we need to get
much better at and thinkingabout that is a really good
strategy for you to makestrategic decisions about stick
or quit.
Seth has written a book aboutquitting called The Dip.
(19:06):
Knowing when to quit and when tostick, it's a short book.
It's less than 300 pages.
The what you will learn.
Podcasts has an episode coveringthe key points from the dip.
The premise of the book.
Is there anything you do in lifehas three different curves that
leads to three differentoutcomes.
The first one is the cul-de-sacwhere you work and work and
(19:26):
work, and nothing changes.
It doesn't get much worse or itdoesn't get much better.
You just sort of plot along.
In a cul-de-sac situation,increased effort does not lead
to increased rewards.
The second scenario is the cliffwhere you're steadily keeping
going up and up and up, andyou're quite happy that you're
going up, but then seeminglyunaware you suddenly fall right
(19:47):
off a cliff And then there's thethird one is the dip.
And this is the one that weshould all be aiming to be.
In the D you are fueled by goodwins early, you're getting lots
of good feedback and lots oflittle signals that are keeping
you going.
And then there is this pointwhere it gets hard and the deep
is that flat, boring, and longslog that's in the middle.
And the dip is when most peoplequit.
(20:10):
But for those that perseverethrough the dip, then they will
get to this big exponentialsuccess part that's right at the
end of the curve.
And so it's when you're in thedip that you really need to be
paying attention to yourdecision-making because it's
where you need to be figuringout whether your, in the dip and
exponential successes at theend, or whether you're sitting
(20:31):
in a col-de-sac or you'reheading towards a cliff.
The decision-making strategy inthe book is that you need.
To quit the cliffs and the culde sacs, because all the effort
and time and money that you'reputting into them are taking
away from the effort that youshould be putting into your
dips.
It's about strategic quitting.
You need to work out and I mean,million dollars for how you work
(20:54):
this out, because none of ushave.
2020 hindsight.
That's where decision-makingtools come in.
Right?
Because you need to look out ifyou're in a dip and distinguish
it from heading off a cliff orbeing in a cul-de-sac.
That's linked to Annie Duke'spre-mortem technique, because as
part of that, you should beplanning out in advance the
parameters for yourself thatwhen they come up, they will
signal to you that that's timeto quit.
(21:16):
So you should have some thingsin advance as you're planning to
say, right, is this, this orthis happens, then that needs to
be a red flag to me that Ishould be thinking about.
Miranda (21:26):
I really like it.
There's a another one, thatAnnie Duke has for this type of
scenario, she calls it a sixstep process.
A bit more like a decision tree,I've used decision trees in the
business world, but in thisinstance where you're talking, a
decision tree would be fantasticfor deciding to take on a new
job.
Also fascinated by thesecul-de-sacs and cliffs.
Because if you could do the workto try and find out where you're
(21:48):
at.
And then a decision tree isgoing to help you explore the
options, what it could look likeif you did, and didn't take the
job decision trees, then take itfurther to going okay.
If you perform well, and lovethe team, that might be one
scenario, but what if youperform well, but the team
doesn't like you.
What does that look like?
What kept, another scenariowhere if you perform poorly,
what does that mean?
And apply percentages to each ofthe different options.
(22:11):
So you get this tree of, this ismy decision.
These are some of the scenariosthat could happen.
This is the likelihood of thathappening.
And then you go out and do someresearch.
To try and find out thatpercentage of what that
likelihood is.
In this instance, if you'relooking for a job, then you
might go and have a look onLinkedIn to see what the
turnover rate is.
(22:32):
Or you might follow a couple ofpeople from that organization,
maybe even reach out to have aconversation with one or two,
just to make sure that it is theright fit for you.
Doing that background work,doing some research into the
history of the company and findout.
Gaining as much information asyou can.
Then you've got this reallycool, smart decision-making
tool, which is going to help youset up for multiple outcomes,
(22:52):
you know, you've researchedthose outcomes and then
hopefully you're going to feelvery confident, but it is
actually also going to stop thecognitive bias issues.
It's going to stop the hindsightbias and the relating, because
you're doing a lot of that workupfront.
You are going to be using thatbrain writing or the brainstorms
to try and answer what theparameters are.
You're going to be using alittle bit of the pre-mortems
cause you're trying to think ofall the things that can go wrong
(23:14):
and you formalizing it down on abit of paper.
I really like this tool.
It's a much better way than apro con list.
Much more three-dimensional.
and again, this one's from AnnieDuke, so she's got an
interesting perspective.
Claire?
Do you remember decision trees?
Have you ever thought ofapplying them to your personal
life or your personal decisions?
Claire (23:30):
do you remember them?
I think it can give you a lot ofconfidence because we're so
afraid of failure.
Like we're so afraid of thelosses, right?
So I think if you put them downon paper at the very beginning,
they then may eventually wait.
They may not.
But knowing that they're thereand making the decision about
how comfortable you are withthose scenarios playing out.
You can take a lot of stress andmental load out about them.
(23:54):
I don't think I've actually usedone since we're at business,
it's so hard because we're sopressed for time and we really
do need.
Space and time and writing.
It can't just be in your head.
That's the key thing as well,you need to get some of this
stuff out.
So on that the iconic TonyRobbins has got a, making tough
decisions article on hiswebsite, and it's a six step
(24:17):
process that he calls OOC/EMRnot very easy acronym to stay
in, stands for outcomes,options, consequences, evaluate,
mitigate, resolve.
It gives you that steps andtechnique.
But what he also has is asection at the end about
addressing your fear of makingtough decisions.
It gets you to reflect on well,what's causing your fear and ask
(24:40):
yourself things like.
Who am I really doing this for?
What will I regret the most?
If I do whatever I don't do itand that sort of stuff.
It's skewing our decision.
That's not cost bias and lookingat it from using the, any duke
six step method or a decisiontree.
There's a lot of good stuff,that can come from us doing
this.
More.
The tricky is like, we alwaystalk about on this podcast is
(25:03):
even a little bit you don't haveto sit down tomorrow and clear
your day with massive decisiontrees and big white boards in
your house.
That's not going to bepractical, just having those
thought bubbles in the back ofyour mind, that this is some
things that you really shouldthink about as you're thinking
about a new job or.
How can I take out some of thatcognitive load?
Because I could just have thesame thing for breakfast and
(25:24):
just being aware that there's alot of stuff that you can do to
make that cognitive exerciseeasier.
And then it will help you bebraver and take bigger risks,
which is what we need to get alife of success in their own
terms, yeah?
Miranda (25:38):
Absolutely.
Some seriously good hacks there.
I hope that all of our listenersare really enjoyed, going
through a bit more of a deeperunderstanding of how these
biases could impact yourdecision making, particularly
depending on what your riskprofile is.
Some quick hacks and somesimple.
To help you make some of thosequicker decisions.
Some more recommendations onthose free rolls or how to deal
with some of those system onethinking and so more complex
(26:01):
tools for those biggerdecisions.
Loved the idea of those dips,cliffs and cul de sacs.
So I think, that'd be a fun oneto apply the decision tree, the
post-mortem and also this tinyRobbins model.
I've got to look that one upagain at O O C E M.
Uh, we'll have to put that linkin the show notes just so you'd
have to write it down.
All right.
So that brings us to the end ofthis podcast.
(26:23):
I think that we are going tohave to do an action challenge
where we really dive into takingthat decision that you thought
about last week and trying touse one of these models, whether
it's the decision tree model orit's one of the other models
that we spoke about today andthinking about the biases that
you naturally would take to thisdecision.
Making sure that you've writtenthem down so you can very much
(26:43):
articulate what that risk is andthen trying those decision
matrixes to see how you'd go andhow you can form that decision.
Give yourself a little bit oftime to really not out, to
brainstorm on paper rain, right?
To do a little bit of researchonline, to try to help you form
your decision.
Sleep on it overnight and thenpick it up the next day and have
a good, have a look and see whatthat looks like for you.
(27:03):
We can definitely promise thatwhatever that decision is that
you make at least you'll knowthat you're going into it eyes
wide open.
We'll put the decision treematrix in the show notes and I
hope you really enjoyed it.
Claire (27:15):
It's about practical application.
So I think that's a great actionfor us to explore some of the
techniques that we've talkedabout and see how we can pick a
couple of them up with adecision tree.
One in terms of making somedecisions as we spoke about last
week.
Yeah, there's a lot of peopleare thinking about what they
want their life to look likepost COVID in terms of work in
(27:35):
terms of whole of life.
And so I feel like this is quitea topical time to be providing
some extra techniques, tools,tips, to use to really, get that
stuff happening for yourself ina way that you feel more
comfortable and brave to takethe risks that you need to take.
Before we finished as acompletely random side note.
If you want to seedecision-making and risk-taking
(27:57):
playing out to the extreme, Ican recommend the Korean show
Squid Game.
That's on Netflix at the moment.
It is decision making andrisk-taking on steroids.
Different.
I have two more episodes to go,which we'll probably watch out
after these podcast.
Although I do have to say, uh,viewer discretion is strongly,
(28:19):
strongly advised.
Honestly, it's actually quite aserious announcement.
It has an intense amount ofblood and gore in it.
It is go pawn to the extreme.
So if you find with that, it'sa, it's an excellent show.
I can highly recommend it.
It's crazy.
In our next episode, we're goingto be doing our second book
review.
I'm so excited.
As, as I know you will be.
Miranda is because we do love agood book review.
(28:41):
We will be reviewing winging itby Emma Iasaacs.
Which is about gettingcomfortable with being
uncomfortable, talking about alot of the stuff that they're
talking about in the last fewweeks, try things before you're
ready, less second guessingyourself.
It's about getting yourconfidence up to take smarter
breadth of risks that will helpyou propel you forward faster to
having the life you want on yourterms.
(29:02):
Emma has just released anotherbook called the new hustle,
which we'll weave into our book.
Review it a little bit next weekas well.
As always, please be sure tovisit our Insta posts for
bite-size.
Inspiration to please emailus@elevatewithgraceatgmail.com.
With any feedback forwards orsuggestions we would love to
hear from you.
(29:23):
And if you're interested in anyof the book titles that we've
discussed or in checking outLinkedIn learning, there are
some links to them in our shownotes and on our website,
www.elevatewithgrace.com to you.
we would be super grateful ifyou would use those links.
And that pretty much brings usto the end of the pot episode.
Thank you listeners.
Thank you Miranda also, greatconversation again,
Miranda (29:47):
so much fun.
Thank you, Claire.
Thank you, listeners.
And I look forward to doing itnext time,
Claire (29:51):
See you next time
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