Leadership decisions are consequential. Good decisions lead to positive organizational outcomes and poor decisions lead to negative outcomes. Hence, understanding how leaders make decisions and whether they are able to display good judgment becomes important.
Some people have better judgment than others. But what sets them apart? Most people would say intelligence – however, Hogan says that this paints an incomplete picture of how an individual thinks and decides. While cognitive abilities are likely to play a major role in learning new things and solving logical problems, most organizational problems are ill defined and decisions are made under uncertainty. In this scenario, many of the key decisions made by a leader are better explained in terms of personality rather than intelligence. (Which may explain why sometimes very smart people seem to make really “dumb” decisions!)
The Hogan Judgment Report brings together three components to assess a leaders’ decision making style and judgment. First component is a measure of how people process information. Second component is a measure of “pre-decision” biases. And third component is related to “post-decision” openness to feedback. The report presents a clear picture to the leader about:
How they process information
Some people prefer to think in terms of words and images, and some people prefer to think in terms of numbers and symbols.
How they decide
Personality determines bias in decision-making process, whether it’s avoiding threats vs. seeking rewards, thinking tactically vs. thinking strategically, or relying on data vs. trusting your gut.
How they adapt
At some point, every leader will make a bad decision. Will they accept the blame and change course, or will they double down?
Armed with this powerful knowledge, every leader can be coached to improve their decision-making and judgement.
At its core, the Hogan Judgement Model is based on three simple premises:
- Decisions drive everything
- Judgment drives decisions
- Personality drives judgment
Interested? Connect with Dr. Pradnya Parasher at pradnya@threefish.in
