Example cases of decision-making

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• Lifestyle changes - For example, moving from the city to the countryside or vice versa. A concrete step forward is to find out why such a measure is needed or not needed.

• Career decisions - What to study or whether to change jobs abroad. A concrete step forward is to find out where I can study and where can I possibly get in.

• Public sector - Deciding on joint projects between municipalities, such as setting up a joint municipal authority. A concrete step forward is to consider what the project goal is.

• Associations - For example, whether the association will invest in new premises and how the solution will be found. A concrete step forward is to find out what kind of space the association needs.

Ella's story - Becoming a professional athlete?

Ella is a 15-year-old junior high school student in a small rural community, a bit shy. Ella's favourite hobby is sports, she is an avid hockey player in the winter and in the summer she likes athletics, especially long jump.

There is a long jump track in her home municipality, but it is not possible to play hockey in her neighbourhood; the team she plays and trains with plays its home games 50 km away.

Ella thinks it would be nice to live closer to the hockey venue, it's not always so convenient to go to practice after school in the winter after dark, and her parents have to drive her every time she goes because there are no other players in her home town.

However, Ella's passion helps her to endure the dark evenings and her parents' compassion has prevented her from giving up hockey. In athletics, there is less of a challenge and this allows more frequent practice of the jumps.

All in all, Ella spends a lot of time each week on sports and can hardly fit other activities into her calendar, sometimes even school can suffer.

Ella has been sporty from an early age and has grown up with it. Sometimes she wishes she didn't have to go to school so she could exercise more. But school is compulsory until the age of 18, so it has to be done.

Ella's post-secondary plans are still wide open. She's pretty sure it should be related to sport in some way. If it was possible, she might focus solely on sports. But how she would finance it is an open question.

You don't just jump from secondary school to professional sport, and people of that age aren't professionals anyway. Ella wonders if there are schools where you can invest in sport and not have to stress about your studies.

On the other hand, Ella is not entirely sure if she really wants to become a top athlete, she knows it takes a lot of training and dedication. She asks herself:

What do I want out of life?

Do I just want to play sports? Or is it just a hobby after all?

Do I even want to be a professional athlete? Do I have enough potential?

A career in sport doesn't last until retirement, so I suppose you have to do something afterwards to have an income, she thinks.

It has become clear to me in the study advisory that there are plenty of opportunities to study, probably too many. How can anyone decide where to go to school, you can't get a job without an education, can you? Compulsory education continues after secondary school, so you can't get out of it yet either. High school would probably be the best option if you don't know what you want to do.

Why is there no better help available? The study advisor can show you where to study, but he or she is not there to help you choose. I suppose there are psychologists who can advise on the profession, but do they know anything about sport?

I have not been blessed with the talent of a decision maker, though I don't know if making a decision is easy for anyone else, many of my friends don't know what they want to study.

I wish there was someone who could help me make a decision about sport and education?

And how can someone know out of all the possibilities in the world what they want, what life should include and what is really important to them. There are just too many options.

Ella is quite alone in her pondering, the study advisor is not really able to help her with her particular problem. Ella's time of choice is approaching and she has to make decisions about what she wants from her life. What about the sport that is important to her? Will it remain a hobby and keep fit, or something more?

 Move it inc.  - The price of indecision

Logistics company Move it inc. is looking for growth in new markets. The company specialises in air freight, but is considering expanding its expertise as the costs of flights are rising.

The company operates in a global market with offices here and there. The company has a large staff and a wide range of managers. The company faces management challenges because of its large size, and therefore decisions are not easy to make.

There are different views within the company on whether to expand the business. Indecision may backfire, and competitors may be first to take over new markets. Move it is a leading player in air cargo and its position is not under threat.

In other modes of freight, competition is more intense and it is more challenging to take over space. The company's organisation is not ideal for fast and flexible decision-making and may deny it the opportunity to expand its activities, thereby keeping potential additional revenues out of the company's coffers.

Slow and cumbersome decision-making is a burden to the company and a brake on its development. Wasting time also costs money when necessary investments are delayed or waited for a long time before being made. For example, the company still has a relatively large amount of old equipment in use, even though it is not the most cost-effective on the market.

Even the maintenance of old equipment is expensive and time-consuming, and spare parts are hard to come by. In addition, old equipment is more prone to breakdowns, which cost a lot in terms of delays. Why not reform? There are people in the company who are willing to reform, but the responsibility is divided into many parts, sometimes no one knows whose decision is needed. Overall, decision-making is somewhat paralysed, or at least unclear, and is a risk factor for the company.

If the company does not have the courage and the ability to make the necessary investments in the fleet and to ensure its functionality even in demanding situations, it is very possible that the risk of an old fleet will materialise and many customers will have to wait a long time for their freight, with possible losses.

Some companies depend on fast and reliable deliveries to keep their production running and their products delivered to the customer as scheduled. Security of supply is also part of a company's brand and credibility, which is at risk without modern equipment and effective in-house decision-making.

Inefficient and slow decision-making is like a plug in a company, preventing it from evolving and adapting to different situations. A plug can drive a company out of the market if it does not first perform the tasks entrusted to it, and improve profitability by identifying new opportunities and seizing them if they increase cash flow and profits.

One day in December, Move it's two large older planes are forced to make emergency landings due to faults in the planes, no one is hurt. The crash landings cause significant damage to the planes, which takes months to repair.

It's the busiest time of the year, with lots of different types of freight moving around the world and Move It`s whole capacity is in use. There is no room for a reduction in the fleet right now. The reduced capacity means that not all the promised deliveries can be made by Christmas, leaving many of those ordering goods to lick their fingers in annoyance. Some of the freight is destroyed.

The problems are very costly for Move it, from repairing the machines to replacing the destroyed goods and delays. Customers are angry and annoyed at the cargo not arriving, and Move it hears a lot of stinging feedback.

Subsequent investigations reveal that the accidents were caused by brittleness in the fuselages of the machines due to their high age. The total cost to Move it of pledging the investment was enough to buy two new and modern cargo planes.

The owners of the company could have avoided a catastrophic situation and a gigantic bill by taking care to make efficient and proactive decisions.