Stage 5: Reprocessing

Learners then orally test the lessons of Stage 4 on a variety of different scenarios such as changed raw material circumstances, increased competition, lack of finance and specified outside regulation, and so on—the circumstances that managers think may be the upcoming decision-making variables. For this, it is useful to draw on the predictions of industry economists and other analysts, whose opinions can be brought in but are often found in the newspages of responsible newspapers and journals. Individuals effectively predict what is likely to happen in the future and then suggest what actions should be taken to refine the way both the prior determination and the refined determination—the one that was reprocessed in Stage 4’s Lessons Audit—might be taken. It is a decision-making rehearsal, out of which emerges the more rigorous ability for managers to make determinations that are based on the tried-and-tested past and to be applied beneficially to the less unfamiliar future.

In this phase it is helpful to attach a figurative word picture to the different scenarios, the objective being to be as graphic as possible. For an investment adviser that changes its research and portfolio analysts at short notice, this might be like “divorcing and remarrying within the month.” For a sharp sales downturn, this could be like “finding an unwelcome relative in the spare bedroom with a dozen suitcases and 12 mislaid suitcase keys.” To top managers, a succession of senior defections could be like “finding oneself in a room full of familiar strangers” while a glitch in a new product development could be like “a confectioner without any baking powder.” The purpose of this exercise is to attach an informal and personal interpretation to the different events that challenge the learner to be thoughtful and inventive. It also provides a way for the episode to be disconnected from the customary use of dry facts and figures that characterize most self-assessments. By associating events more familiarly, the occurrences and their associated decisions become more contextually memorable, a device similar to how some people recall the names of new acquaintances.

A useful exercise at this stage is for managers to devise a decision-making schema to deliberately achieve a downturn similar to the performance that the organization wants to improve. For example, if a recent product launch came out overdue and over budget by a factor of two, managers then proactively work out the decisions necessary to achieve this lower outcome in the same new circumstances anticipated for the next product launch. The discipline of trying not to improve is frequently educational in its own right, providing as it does a direct comparison with the proposed approach to correct prior performance.