Forming Better Judgement and Decision Making

Mark Fryer

We asked our Commercial Director, Mark Fryer, how our Critical Thinking Programme can help individuals and organisations to form better judgement and improve their decision making: 

“For several years now ABSTRACT has been researching and learning how people make decisions. We have looked in depth at the human brain and studied people at various levels of seniority in the Military, Financial Services, BioChem, Pharma, Sport, Media, Clinical Manufacturers, and Politics and more.  By thoroughly understanding the factors that influence decision making, we can teach people how to make better decisions to meet their goals.

 

The Hogan principle states character drives judgement, judgement drives decisions and decisions drive business. We like this! Even not making a decision is a decision.

 

Nearly every person we spoke with when asked “how do you form judgement and make decisions?” responded with – “gut-feel”, “intuition” and/or “experience”. This trend in our respondent’s answers led us ultimately to the brilliant research by Daniel Kahneman. In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, he describes “gut-feel” and “intuition” as fast thinking which is based on recognising the familiar from our life experiences and therefore ‘intuitively’ knowing how to act. All this intuition is stored in the System 1 part of our brain and serves us well, the majority of the time. It is the System 2 part of the brain that we need to activate and mobilise to achieve new thinking and even better decisions.

Consider this amazing fact, the typical person has 80,000 thoughts and experiences a day which, applying Kahneman theory, is all filed away for future reference embedding itself eventually in System 1. Applying this to the average-aged person that we spoke to in our research, means they will have had nearly 1,022,000,000 thoughts and experiences, many of them different to yourself, that will influence their ‘gut reaction’. 

 

No wonder people find it hard to agree!

 

In our modern era of cooperation, collaboration, and inclusivity it is vital that we develop improved ways of working together as teams to drive business forward. At ABSTRACT we have created interesting and applicable tools and models to improve Judgement & Decision Making whether that be for individuals, teams or whole departments”. 


Our Critical Thinking Programme high-level journey in 3 moves:


Aligning Character

Forming Sound Judgement

Making Excellent Decisions


The Key Learnings with application are:

 

  • Understanding that Character drives Judgment
  • Appreciating that Judgment drives Decisions
  • Being confident that Decisions drive Business
  • Using the brand-new ABSTRACT models well
  • Becoming proficient with the new language 


This programme can be designed according to your specific business needs. 


For more information about these and other ABSTRACT programmes contact us today mark@abstractuk.co.uk


One businesswoman coaching a junior staff member, her hands are raised and she is leaning forward.
by David Nikolich 14 March 2025
Coaching direct reports is one of the most effective ways a Line Manager can positively impact the growth of the business, but businesses are not always enabling this...
Two finance professionals walking quickly and confidently past a glass office building.
by ABSTRACT 15 January 2025
There is no denying that these early weeks of a new year are crucial for planning a successful financial year ahead. To help ambitious business leaders hit the ground running, we're sharing some top tips to help successfully 'Fast Start' their 2025.
by Nick Goddard 29 November 2024
What are the HR priorities that leaders and decision makers will need to focus on in the new year? Nick Goddard explores the latest research and trends, and shares how we can help you plan ahead.
by Nick Goddard 29 October 2024
As Businesses and the newly elected Government aim to achieve sustained economic growth for Britain; what is Inclusive Growth, and does it translate to the the workplace?
by David Nikolich 24 October 2024
How can the business world break old time-wasting habits, and cut straight to decision making? David Nikolich explores how ABSTRACT's methodology can help reduce over-processing and over-engineering, cutting straight to the problem to solve.
by Mark Fryer 1 October 2024
We have lots of 'gyms' in life - If we wish to develop or improve then a good option is to use a gym. In his latest blog, Mark Fryer explains the importance of a professional gymnasium in developing real skills.
Show More