What is Distributed Decision Making?
Strategic Thinking describes an individual mindset which can be critically important to leadership. But the power of Strategic Thinking is increased exponentially when it is embedded throughout an organization. Distributed decisioning creates tremendous resilience at all levels of the organization. When every manager, supervisor and worker thinks strategically, they are prepared to make good decisions, and take action in the moment that drives towards the organization’s long-term goals.
While distributed decision-making can benefit all organizations, it is particularly relevant for companies which are investing in AI or machine learning. These investments show the value of speed in decision making, but the other part of the equation is preparing those who make the decisions that machines can't.
Can’t we just use scenario planning (or some other planning framework)?
Scenario planning is a valid tool for preparing deep and nuanced strategic options. But it is constrained by imagination, and the limited by complexity – for instance, how many different pandemic scenarios could you imagine, and how many should you plan for?
Investing in strategic thinking provides greater resiliency for an organization than relying on scenario planning alone. The two approaches can even be used together; Strategic Thinkers require frameworks and tools. Scenario planning can be part of that toolset.