A632.3.4.RB_Reflections on Decision Making

Reflections on Decision Making

Cognitive bias can influence everyday decision making.  This framing trap can be avoided by recognizing your assumptions, being aware of perceptions that could inadvertently anchor you so you're less focused on the most familiar, causing immediate judgment without considerable thought.  This can be seen in my decision not to switch my healthcare provider when I moved across town.  Even though there was a new healthcare system and network of new providers in closer proximity to my new home, I was familiar with the doctors, facilities, prices, choices, and customer service offered by my current provider and I didn’t want to risk losing that familiarity. Because of my cognitive bias, I chose to avoid the risk altogether and take the long drive through heavy traffic to stay with my current provider in order to keep everything the same and familiar rather than taking a risk on an unfamiliar but potentially better health care service option.  Choosing to avoid the risk can have negative effects if the alternative proves that I’m losing out by not switching.  If the reality of the alternative is a more affordable, less time consuming, better customer service, more appointment dates and times to choose from and so on, by not taking the risk, I missed out on all the potential benefits.  I have learned that I tend to be conservative and maintain normalcy instead of embracing change. I could have framed the situation differently by recognizing my assumptions and how my familiarity and emotional commitment to my providers guided and directed my attention and caused me to filter information.  I could have also gotten others input and views on their experience with the new system.  This situation has taught me that complex decision making involves uncertainty and taking risks, and doing so can be uncomfortable but may produce the best outcomes.  

The best defense against a framing trap is awareness, especially when it comes to being overconfident in our judgments.  To facilitate this, using multiple frames can surface a broader range of ideas and guard against frame blindness. At Target, leaders were encouraged to regularly rotate in various functional areas of the store working in different departments and develop relationships with people in these areas.  Part of our onboarding process was to shadow team members in each function for several weeks. Developing relationships and ongoing dialogue with the team often resulted in a broader perspective and other viewpoints as well as alternative ideas and solutions to problems. This helped leaders to experience what it’s like working in each area and to understand how each function works together and impacts the other. This facilitated a well-rounded view of the operation of the entire store as well as individual departments, especially since most decisions were made by a group of leaders and affected multiple departments and team members. This regular practice helped to avoid framing traps and helped teach me that complex decision making often involved not only teams within the store but impacted key stakeholders such as customers, the distribution center, suppliers, and corporate decision making.  Because of the high impact of decisions, risk was minimized by using multiple frames to surface broader input.