Types of Decisions, Skills, and the Six Cs

Decisions come in different shapes. Some are permanent; some can be undone. Some have to be made quickly; others allow experimentation. The decider’s skill set also matters: critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity each contribute. The Six Cs model offers a useful sequence for working through any decision deliberately.

Six types of decisions

The handout names six types by how the decision behaves over time.

Irreversible decisions

Permanent choices. Once made, become irrevocable and unchanged. People usually opt for irreversible decisions when there are very limited or no options available.

Some decisions cannot be undone. Once made, the school lives with them.

Examples in a school:

1. Selling school property.
2. Closing a programme that had committed students to a multi-year track.
3. Firing a teacher.
4. Making a public statement that becomes part of the school’s record.

Irreversible decisions deserve more deliberation than reversible ones. A school head should slow down when she suspects a decision is irreversible.

Reversible decisions

Not final, may be temporary. At any point, can be altered or changed.

Most decisions are reversible. The school tries something; if it does not work, it changes.

Examples in a school:

1. Adopting a new teaching method (can be unadopted).
2. Hiring a new teacher (can be let go, though with cost).
3. Changing the lunch schedule (can be changed back).
4. Adjusting the assessment frequency (can be adjusted again).

Reversible decisions are easier. The cost of being wrong is bounded. This means they can be made faster and with less deliberation than irreversible ones.

A useful question before any decision: is this reversible? If yes, decide and adjust if needed. If no, deliberate more carefully before deciding.

Quick decisions

Not everyone is able to make quick decisions. Only good decision makers arrive at instant and correct decisions easily. The long-term outcome must be considered in making quick decisions.

Some decisions cannot wait. A medical emergency. A security threat. A parent demanding an immediate answer.

Quick decisions are harder. They rely on the decider’s pattern recognition and experience. A new principal often makes worse quick decisions than an experienced one because she lacks the accumulated patterns.

The mitigation for new leaders: have contingency plans for likely emergencies (covered in the planning chapter). The plan converts what would be a quick decision into a pre-made choice.

Experimental decisions

Involves certainty and assurance of the initial results before a final decision is made. It is ensured that the preliminary outcome is positive and assuring in order to guarantee success of the decision to be taken.

An experimental decision is made in stages. The first stage is a small test. If the test works, the decision is scaled. If the test fails, the decision is reversed.

In a school: rolling out a new programme in one grade before extending to others. The first year is the experiment. The results inform whether to scale.

Experimental decisions are useful when the stakes of being wrong are high but reversibility is possible. They limit the downside while preserving the upside.

Trial and error decisions

The decision maker tries out several courses of action until one alternative is left that seems to be convincing and positive. It is a play-safe method before committing to anything.

Trial and error is similar to experimental but more iterative. The decision maker tries one option; if it does not work, she tries another; she keeps going until something works.

In a school: trying different intervention strategies for struggling readers until finding what works for the school’s specific context.

Trial and error works when the cost of each trial is low and learning happens between trials. It fails when the trials are expensive or when no learning is captured.

Conditional decisions

When a decision is conditional, the person is open for other possibilities or other alternatives. In any case, when the initial decision fails, there are other options to choose from.

A conditional decision is one that includes pre-defined fallbacks. If A does not work, try B. If B does not work, try C.

In a school: a fee collection plan that starts with reminder messages, escalates to phone calls, then to one-on-one meetings, then to legal process. Each step is conditional on the previous one not working.

Conditional decisions are useful when the situation is uncertain and the decider wants to be ready for multiple outcomes.

Three core skills

The handout names three skill clusters for decision makers.

Critical thinking

The mental process of making a wise judgment focusing on personal conviction and actions. Some components are observation, reasoning, classification, analysis, inference, evaluation, meta-cognition.

Critical thinking is the rigorous examination of evidence and reasoning. It is what separates a thoughtful decision from a reactive one.

Critical thinking in a school decision context includes:

1. Observing the situation carefully. Not just what is reported but what is actually happening.
2. Reasoning through cause and effect. Why is this happening, and what would different actions produce?
3. Classifying problems correctly. Is this a discipline issue, a curriculum issue, a parent issue?
4. Analysing data. What do the numbers actually show?
5. Evaluating arguments. Is this claim well-supported?
6. Meta-cognition. Am I noticing my own biases and assumptions?

A school head with strong critical thinking makes better decisions than one with weak critical thinking, holding everything else equal.

Problem solving

The handout describes problem solving as a four-phase process:

1. Input phase. The problem is identified and understood or examined.
2. Processing phase. Determine alternatives and evaluate for the best option.
3. Output phase. Decision is implemented.
4. Review phase. Evaluate outcomes and make changes if needed.

This mirrors the decision making process from the previous article. Problem solving and decision making are closely related; problem solving is decision making applied to a problem.

Creativity

The process of generating new ideas, views and systems to solve problems and arrive at decisions efficiently. Creativity allows you to think out of the box or go beyond usual perceptions. Lack of creativity leads to limited options.

Creativity is underrated in decision making. A leader who can only see the obvious options decides among limited choices. A leader who can generate creative alternatives expands the choice set.

Examples of creative options in a school:

1. Problem: high parent complaints about communication. Obvious options: more meetings, more emails, more reports. Creative option: a parent ambassador programme where parents help other parents navigate the school.
2. Problem: weak teacher development budget. Obvious options: spend more, cut other costs. Creative option: a teacher exchange with a partner school where each teaches the other something specific.

Creativity is partly natural disposition and partly practice. A school head can develop creativity by spending time with people in other fields, by reading widely, and by deliberately asking “what is a different way to think about this?” when stuck.

The Six Cs model

The handout offers a model that puts the process and the skills together. The Six Cs of Decision Making.

Walking through the Six Cs

For a school decision: whether to introduce after-school tutoring for struggling students.

1. Construct. What exactly must be decided? Whether to launch a paid after-school tutoring programme for grade-5 struggling students, starting next term.
2. Compile. What are the requirements? It must improve targeted students’ scores by at least 10 percent in one term. It must cost less than 5 percent of the additional fee revenue it generates. It must not damage core school operations.
3. Collect. What alternatives meet these requirements? Option A: internal teachers tutoring after school. Option B: external tutors brought in. Option C: peer tutoring with senior students.
4. Compare. Each option against the requirements. Cost, impact, side effects.
5. Consider. What could go wrong with each? Internal teachers may resent extra work. External tutors may not know the school’s culture. Peer tutoring may not be enough for genuinely struggling students.
6. Commit. Choose one. Document the reasoning. Move to implementation.

The Six Cs model is one of several decision-making frameworks. Its advantage is the explicit “Consider” step, which forces the decider to think about failure modes before committing. Many decisions go wrong because the decider did not think about what could go wrong.

Flashcard

What are the Six Cs of Decision Making?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Construct, Compile, Collect, Compare, Consider, Commit.

1. Construct. A clear picture of what must be decided.
2. Compile. A list of requirements that must be met.
3. Collect. Information on alternatives that meet the requirements.
4. Compare. The alternatives against the requirements.
5. Consider. What might go wrong with each alternative.
6. Commit. Make the decision and follow with it.

The advantage of the Six Cs is the explicit “Consider” step. Many decisions go wrong because the decider did not think about failure modes before committing. The Six Cs makes that step a discipline.