How to Avoid the Most Common Mistake in Decision Making and Make Better Decisions

Decision Making is the art of learning to make better choices. Making a good decision is not about making the RIGHT DECISION. This leads to the most common mistake in decision making, the Einstellung Effect: getting stuck repeating the same old ‘right’ solutions. Great decision making instead create journeys of learning to create better options in future.

What is a Decision?

A decision is when we are confronted with a situation where we have to make a choice where we can’t predict the outcome. We can’t make the ‘right decision’ because by definition we don’t know the answer.

The Definition of a Decision?

Defining a decision is simple: it’s a choice made when the outcome is unknown. If we knew the result, it wouldn’t be a decision—it would be a process leading to an inevitable conclusion.

Why Decisions are Made?

We make decisions not because we know what will happen, but because we need to move through life’s unpredictable narrative. They are not endpoints, but beginnings. They create actions that create the opportunity for learning about the unknown world that confronts us. 

What is Decision Making?

Decision making is the art of making a series of decisions with a coherent strategy to navigate uncertainty. It is an intricate dance of intuition, logic, and past lessons learned, performed under the shadow of incomplete information. We use our knowledge of the world to make informed choices about possible futures.

Is a Decision a Choice?

A decision is a choice, but with limitations. These limitations are created as it is a choice with the purpose of achieving a wider goal. How we understand our goal and what we believe will take to get their limits the possibility of decision making. The knowledge gained from a choice can only be as strong as the decision making process that supports it.

How do People Make Decisions?

People make decisions by blending their knowledge, intuition, and emotional insights as well as their learned mental shortcuts. The process varies tremendously from person to person and situation to situation, often muddied by biases and swayed by various external pressures. Strong emotions and motivations and mental habits and biases often distort our decision making.

The Most Common Decision Making Mistake: ‘The Einstellung Effect’.

In a classic experiment, participants were given a set of water jugs with different capacities. They were then asked to measure out a specific amount of water. The solution involved a series of 3 steps. 

When participants were faced with a simpler problem that had a more straightforward 2 step solution, many participants persisted in using the familiar three-step method they had already learned earlier. They never stopped to think and change their mind even though a quicker approach was available.

What is the Einstellung Effect.

The Einstellung effect is a cognitive trap where individuals, due to their previous experiences, tend to solve new problems using familiar methods even when better or more appropriate solutions exist. Essentially, it’s a predisposition to approach tasks in a specific predictable way, potentially overlooking better approaches. 

This cognitive shortcut can be both helpful and limiting. 

Useful Heuristic: 

Once we find a successful method (like peeling garlic), our brains save the energy of thinking by trying different techniques every time. Consistency can save time and effort.

Cognitive Blind Spots: 

However, this habit often prevents us from seeing more efficient or appropriate solutions. Our brains become “blinded” to alternatives. We stop observing how the world has changed and we stop learning.

Why Does It Happen?

Research shows that people under the influence of this cognitive shortcut literally do not see certain details in their environment that could provide them with a more effective solution. Our brains get lazy and scared and filter out alternative possibilities.

How to Make the Right Decision?

Always chasing the “right” decision is a fool’s errand. You can only know the right decision in hindsight. You can’t predict the future, so you subconsciously end up relying on your biased emotions, motivations and learning shortcuts. (If you would like to read about the science of how you can’t reliably plan your way to the future please read this blog)

Instead, you can choose to make valuable decisions. Use decision making as a learning process. This will open the door to new possibilities. Make decisions that allow you to learn, adapt, and prepare for more informed choices in the future. That way you will get ahead of where the world is not fall on your face playing catchup.

Decision Making and Learning

Real decision-making power derives from a continuous cycle of learning. By daring to make choices and learning from their outcomes, we evolve, sharpening our ability to make future decisions with greater knowledge confidence and precision.

Decision Making and Knowledge?

Every decision enriches our pool of knowledge. Our brains thrive on the diversity of scenarios we encounter, enhancing our cognitive abilities and fine-tuning our instincts for future decisions. You gain little wisdom from always making the same decision. Building a strong knowledge base by learning from the decisions you make is the secret that unlocks expertise. 

How to Make Better Decisions?

Better decisions come from a willingness to explore and an openness to the unknown. Test your boundaries, challenge your assumptions, and always be ready to learn from the outcomes. Instead of doing what you normally do ask ‘What if?’ This approach not only refines your decision-making skills but also broadens your skills and abilities preparing you to face new challenges in an unpredictable world.

What Makes a Good Decision Maker?

A good decision maker is not one who knows all the right answers. The future is changing and unpredictable, meaning that a good decision maker adapts their decision making to their environment. They look at problems from multiple angles. Consult with a diverse range of people. They are keen to explore options whenever possible to stretch their knowledge and expertise to improve their capability to make ever better decisions in future.

The Science Behind this Approach to Better Decision Making.

Parallel Traffic in Human Brains: (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Our brains use the process of having multiple paths to the same destination to increase learning and the accuracy of information. The brain does not have a single ‘right path’. But using multiple paths for learning and adaptation.

• Scientists created ‘road maps’ of how human brains processed information compared to animals.
• While non-human brains often send information along a single “road,” human brains exhibit multiple parallel pathways between the same source and target part of the brain.
• The complexity of parallel connections in human brains contributes to our cognitive abilities and adaptability 

Informational Diversity:

Informational diversity is when diverse individuals collaborate, they bring different information, opinions, and experiences to the table. Just as interdisciplinary teams with engineers, designers, and safety experts build better cars, social diversity also contributes to better decision-making.

Examples

• Gender-diverse teams in top firms have been associated with improved financial performance
• Combining the wisdom of older individuals with the fresh outlook of younger team members leads to better decision-making
• Companies that embrace diversity tend to perform better financially. Diverse teams are more likely to generate breakthrough innovations, which can lead to increased profits

Better Decision Making and the Edge of Possible

Take a journey with me, let’s explore these unknown territories at the Edge of Possibility. So that your future decisions can be made with better knowledge, confidence and capability. Instead of making the same old decisions choose to stretch your edge of knowing to gain the expertise confidence and capability to make the impossible possible.

Conclusion

Decisions are powerful not because they are a fixed route of making the ‘right decision’ for the ‘right outcome’, but because they launch us into experiences rich with potential for learning and growth. They are the gateways through which we explore the unknown and expand the horizons of our knowledge and capabilities. Helping us learn to lead change and not be disrupted by it. Let’s embrace these journeys at the Edge of  Possible, and cultivate a future informed by wisdom and  experience.