KSG-Forum 2021 "Richtig Entscheiden" mit Esther Maria Loidl

Certainly, I have made many decisions, as one does daily. One significant topic that preoccupies us all, especially our employees, is how we continue to handle the pandemic and how our working world will develop. Many office employees have worked from home for months or almost a year and a half. Now, with normality returning, the question arises how we deal with mobile work and workplace location. Finding the right, forward-looking decision is not easy, and there is probably no simple answer.

That is correct. It is often easier for managers if the board decides uniformly, but in our case, it is very individual across areas, businesses, and countries. As a production company with labs and R&D, it is important to come together on-site for creative processes and innovation. Two-thirds of our workforce in factories and labs cannot work from home, so we aim for a balanced approach.

As said, we make thousands of decisions daily, and business decisions have greater impact. To make well-founded decisions, three key themes are data, diversity, and taking time. Data provides a solid basis. Diversity brings different perspectives in thinking, not just demographics. Taking time prevents rushed decisions. Intuition also plays a role. Common pitfalls include confirmation bias, groupthink, basing decisions on false data, and the 'not invented here' syndrome. Decision fatigue can occur. When preparing decisions, consider stakeholders and focus on solving problems. Execution is crucial; even the best decision fails without proper implementation. After a decision, reflect on whether it was based on correct premises. Decisions mean choosing against something, and dealing with regret is important. I recommend books: 'The Midnight Library' by Matt Haig, 'Clear Thinking, Smart Acting' by Rolf Dobelli, and 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' by Daniel Kahneman.