Strategic decision-making: how some management teams make better strategic decisions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to share the accumulated learning and insights into how some management teams make better strategic decisions than others. Design/methodology/approach The authors draw their insights from strategic decision-making literature and experiences teaching strategic decision-making to working professionals. Using a strategic decision-making simulation with 50 teams over many years, the authors share insights derived from those numerous experiences and debriefs of the simulation. Findings The observations shared by the authors focus on practices that differentiate higher from lower performing teams. The authors introduce a taxonomy of strategic decision-making modes and intervening obstacles and delve into the practices that help teams to focus their attention deliberately and conscientiously and to minimize distractions. Teams that made the strategic rationale explicit, used broad framing and were cautious toward potential constraints on future flexibility improved the likelihood of making effective strategic decisions. This paper introduces a taxonomy of these behaviors across three dimensions that form a multilayered and complex process of interaction that influences how strategic decisions are made and whether there are tipping points that lead to higher or lower performance. Originality/value This paper provides unique insights and understanding into how teams can strengthen the strategic decision-making process itself to make better strategic decisions.