Decision consulting is collaborative: The client has in-depth knowledge of the decision domain; the consultant brings knowledge and experience modeling decisions. Together they can build working representations of the decisions involved that are realistic enough to facilitate productive discussions, testing alternatives, what-if analyses, information collection, and communication with stakeholders. This collaboration involves both the art and the science of model development and creative, value-focused decision making. This time and intensity of this decision collaboration varies by client choice and decision complexity; in DCG’s practice, it has been as short as an afternoon and, at the other extreme, extended over several decades.

Like any other skill, everyone can get better at decision making, even though most of us are comfortable with our current skill level. Research has shown that comfort is due to how little we understand the additional value that would come from even modest improvement in our decision making process. This value is particularly important when decisions are made that impact more than just ourselves. Decision education is a central part of DCG’s consulting and the core of the seminars that are up-to-date presentations of the theory and practices that improve the skill of decision making, the most effective means we have of bringing quality into our lives and the lives of others.