A Decision You Can Explain, Defend, and Feel Good About
We often see organizations faced with decisions that are too complex to make on instinct or experience alone. Whether it be a facility move, a merger, or a programmatic pivot. Any organizational change that will reshape service delivery, internal structures, or client experience warrants a well thought-out game plan.
These fork in the road moments often go awry or fall flat, not for lack of care, but because the decision making process didn’t reflect the complexity of the situation at hand. When the stakes are high and the voices are many, a pros-and-cons list isn't enough. You need an innovative framework that considers values as deeply as variables.
At TSM we are creative in finding ways to approach these decisions with structure and intention. In a recent scenario planning project, we started by defining the core elements of what actually matters. Every situation is unique, and our team is gifted at sifting through the chaos to help define what may feel abstract or difficult to articulate. Keeping these core elements in mind, together with leadership we then worked to identify the criteria that the decision should be measured against. For nonprofits this might include areas like financial sustainability, community impact, access, mission alignment, client safety, partnership dynamics, etc. We spell out each of these categories, making sure that very little is left up to interpretation. The final list of criteria will be directly derived from your values as an organization, not ours. The result is a decision matrix that helps us to gut check and align our instinctive positions with evidence.
Once we have a customized and detailed framework to lean on, we then embark on the journey of listening. TSM specializes in engaging the people most affected by the decisions we help to facilitate — staff, clients, partners, community members — through structured interviews, focus groups, and surveys. Using our expertise and contextual knowledge, we work to detail themes from the feedback, and code the data into categories. By assigning a scoring structure to largely qualitative data, we are able to uniquely map sentiment across stakeholder groups and subject areas. This process allows us to highlight areas where people agree, where they diverge, and find where the real tensions live. We found that this method yields the real information that adequately supports the toughest decisions. Not only does this process lead us toward informed choice, it also gives our clients an evidentiary toolbox to support the smaller choice points that are sure to follow. As the work continues, there is now a map of sentiments, strengths, limitations, and reasoning that can be referred back to.
This type of project draws on a unique convergence of skills and talents from the TSM team, and services a major need for our clients in today’s climate. Our goal as consultants is to innovate tools that facilitate a decision rooted in evidence and ethics. When things get prickly, we are available as thought partners. To listen deeply to the complexities and create a strategic approach that brings you closer to your goals, and equips you to handle the obstacles that lie ahead. Ultimately, we want to leave you with a decision you can explain, defend, and feel good about. Not because everyone agreed, but because everyone was heard and due diligence was done.