Want to create interactive content? It’s easy in Genially!

Get started free

Decision Styles

Melissa

Created on October 13, 2025

Start designing with a free template

Discover more than 1500 professional designs like these:

Decisions and Behaviors in the Workplace

Tangram Game

Process Flow: Corporate Recruitment

Weekly Corporate Challenge

Wellbeing and Healthy Routines

Match the Verbs in Spanish: Present and Past

Planets Sorting Game

Transcript

Leadership Theories, Frameworks & Change

decision styles

Leadership Skills

agenda

1. Tone Setter

2. Theory Introduction

3. Application Games

4. Reflection

5. Next Unit

6. Gratitude & Mindfulness

Would you rather...

Decisions in leadership edition.

Team leadership

Using AI

Bed allocation

Flu vaccines

End of life care

Staff assignments

Patient choice

Team dynamics

Theory Introduction

  • Rational Model
  • Intuitive Model (Klein's Recognition-Primed)
  • Bounded Rationality (Herbert Simon)

The Rational Model of Decision Making

Strengths:

  • Structured
  • Reduces bias through data
  • Aligns with evidence-based practices
Weaknesses:
  • Assumes perfect information
  • Can overlook human factors
  • May slow urgent needs

Six Steps:

  • Define the problem
  • Create decision criteria
  • Weight the critieria
  • Generate alternatives
  • Evaluate alternatives
  • Choose optimal solution

Core Ideas:

  • Decision makers are logical, objective, and systematic.
  • Wants to identify the optimal choice through step-by-step process.
  • Works best when information is complete and reliable.

The Intuitive (Recognition-Primed) Decision Model

Strengths:

  • Fast and adaptive
  • Uses tacit knowledge from real-life
  • Encourages situational awareness
Weaknesses:
  • Vulnerable to bias
  • Less reliable for beginners
  • Hard to justify decisions on gut feelings

Three Steps:

  • Recognize the situation
  • Generate a mental simulation
  • Act and Adjust

Core Ideas:

  • Leaders don't compare options; they recognize patterns.
  • Decisions come from intuition informed by expertise.
  • Focuses on speed and accuracy under pressure.

bounded Rationality framework

Strengths:

  • Reflects the real-world constraints
  • Encourages timely decisions
  • Reduces analysis paralysis
Weaknesses:
  • Can overlook better alternatives
  • Can reinforce bias
  • Risk of settling for mediocrity

Three Steps:

  • Simplify the problem
  • Use limited information on what's available
  • Satisfice, not optimize

Core Ideas:

  • People aim for rationality, but decisions are limited by information, time, and cognitive capacity.
  • We don't seek the perfect decision - we seek one that is good enough.

Application games

Triage simulation: Three ventilators, five patients

Rational Model:

  • Identify decision criteria
  • Assign importance/weight
  • Select top three patients based on criteria and weight
Bounded Rationality:
  • Assume time pressure
  • Choose simplified criteria (who's most likely to survive, i.e.)
  • Stop when team reaches a sufficient, but not perfect choice
Intuitive (Recognition-Primed)
  • Quickly identify which patients "fit" known patterns of survivability
  • Discuss all gut instincts and whether they hold under pressure

Patient Bios:

  • Alex (32): ER RN, moderate COVID, no pre-existing conditions, has two young children.
  • Maria (68): Retired teacher, severe respiratory distress, diabetes, community volunteer.
  • Jamal (45): Grocery worker, stable by worsening symptoms, cares for elderly parents.
  • Evelyn (23): College student, autoimmune disorder, mild lung damage, on immunosuppresants.
  • Robert (59): Researcher on new antiviral treatments, severe symptoms, previously healthy.

Decision Ball

Intuitive Model: Respond instantly and trust your gut.

Bounded Rationality: You have 3 seconds to make a "good enough" decision.

Rational Model: Name three steps before deciding.

Yes, And... Speed Dating

Mysterious Smell

Dress Code Dilemma

AI Assistant

Family Feud

Patient Influencer

Your clinic introduces color-coded scrubs by role. Everyone is fighting about which color is most professional.

A new AI tool recommends patient discharges. It's fast, but you're unsure it's correct.

Something in the staff fridge stinks. No one wants to touch it and surveyors are coming tomorrow.

Two family members disagree about grandma's treatment plan - and both want to speak to a manager now.

A patient insists their TikTok health hack cured their condition and wants it added to clinic protocol.

Yes, And... Speed Dating II

Holiday Party Ethics

Therapy Dog Debate

Group Text Disaster

Spa Proposal

Healthy Snack War

The hospital throws a holiday party the same day patients can't visit because of an infection outbreak.

Your CEO wants to open a Wellness Spa Wing next to urgent care to merge healthcare and luxury.

A staff group chat accidentally includes a patient's number. Now the patient is replying.

Vending machines are replaced with nutritious options. Nurses smuggle in chips and soda.

A patient's dog keeps sneaking into the hospital, and now half the staff wants to make it the official therapy dog. The other half want it out.

Decision Spectrum

Staff Feud
Budget Bomb
VIP Dilemma
Vanishing Patient
Flu Shot Fiasco
Rumor Mill
ChatGPT Chart
Dress Code Drama
Wifi Down
Phantom Complaint
Charting Chaos
Bad Headline

Four Corners of Choice: Integrating MBTI

  • Corner A: FACTS: magnifying glass or clipboard -> Collect Data/Observe
  • Corner B: LOGIC: scales/gears -> Create Structure
  • Corner C: POSSIBILITIES: lightbulb/rocket -> Imagine
  • Corner D: PEOPLE: hearts/hands -> Care

Example

flip a decision

Sex Offenders

weight jokes

Viral Discrimination

soda money

Decision: I text a friend back right away. Value: Respect. Ripple: Helps them feel seen & supported.

The Decision Web

Decision: I post about causes I believe in. Value: Advocacy. Ripple: Might inspire or alienate others.

Examples

Decision: I volunteer the most at work. Value: Service. Ripple: May lighten the load for others.

Decision: I forgive someone who hurt me. Value: Compassion. Ripple: Restores trust & eases tension for everyone. May make me vulnerable to more hurt.

Reflection

In a round robin, answer one of these questions: . What surprised your the most about how you make decisions? Do you make decisions first on the mind, heart, or connection to others? How can awareness of your decision styles make you a better teammate or leader? What's one thing you'll do differently the next time you face a hard decision?

Next Unit

  • Should we do review next?
  • Still choose your next unit.

Personal & Reflective Development

Emotional Intelligence

Imposter Syndrome

Authentic Leadership

Fear & Barriers to Leadership

Self-Awareness

Executive Presence

Narrative Leadership

Neurology of Leadership

Personality Assessments

Locus of Control

Ethics, Equity & Social Responsibility

Charity & Social Justice

Power & Ethics

Implicit Bias

Intersectionality

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Trauma-Informed Leadership & Resilience

Cultural Humility in Leadership

Environmental & Social Responsibility

Leadership Theories, Frameworks & Change

Critical & Strategic Thinking

Theories of Change

Change Management

Your Mission, Vision & Values

Decision Styles

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Learning Cycles

Managing v Leading

gratitude

mindfulness: nadi shodhana Alternate Nostril Breathing

Neurology of leadership: How brain science explains decision-making, stress, and interpersonal influence in leaders.

Intuitive Model Demo Spot the differences in these pictures, a Halloween edition.

Rational Demo: Personal Career Decision

  • You've received two job offers - one with higher pay, one with better culture fit.
  • Name as many criteria you can think of to decide within two minutes (i.e. student loans, burnout factors)

Bounded Reality Demo: Pick a Playlist

  • You have one minute to find a song you like to play while studying.
  • Report out, and maybe the beginning of the song.

Authentic leadership: Leading with transparency and consistency between values and actions.

Implicit bias: Unconscious attitudes that shape leader decisions and impact health equity.

Imposter syndrome: The feeling of self-doubt despite competence and how it affects leaders in healthcare.

A confused patient wanders out of the facility.

A nurse used AI to write patient notes -- and they didn't proofread or check for errors.

Two nurses are arguing during their shift - patients can hear them.

Your mission, vision & values: Defining guiding principles that shape leadership direction.

Decision Spectrum: Instructions

  • Purpose: Physically explore how deicision styles vary between analysis first and act first. Begin to notice personal and team tendencies under pressure.
  • Move to the side of the room that you resonate with the most.
  • Left = Analyze first
  • Right = Act first

Personality assessments: Tools like the Enneagram or DISC that help leaders understand personal traits and working styles.

Environmental & social responsibility: How healthcare leaders resppnd to sustainable and climate challenges.

Decision Ball: Instructions

  • Purpose: Experience fast vs. deliberate decision-making styles.
  • Melissa will throw a ball to a student who will start the round.
  • They will answer the prompt as fast as they can and toss to a classmate. The round will continue until everyone has had the ball.
  • We'll repeat this for three rounds.

How did your model influence what "felt right?" Which model seemed most ethical? Most realistic? Why?

... support a patient’s choice of unproven alternative therapy or insist on evidence-based care only?

Cultural humility in leadership: A continuous practice of self-reflection and learning how to lead across cultures.

Two nurses refuse to treat a patient who is a registered sex offender. Thumbs up if you reassign the case to another nurse. Thumbs down if you discipline the nurses refusing.

... lead a team that always agrees with you or one that constantly challenges your ideas?

Emotional Intelligence: The ability to recognize, understand, and manage your own emotions and those of others in healthcare leadership.

Critical and strategic thinking: Using analysis and foresight to make informed leadership decisions.

You overhear a rumor spreading about a colleague's romance.

Health Equity vs. Financial Survival: Your community clinic must cut services to stay open. Do you keep the profitable cosmetic procedures (i.e. plastic surgery) or the free diabetes program serving low-income patients?

You overhear a surgeon joking about a patient's weight in the elevator. Reporting it could make your shift very awkward. Thumbs up if you file a report. Thumbs down if you don't file a report.

... assign a nurse with empathy but lower skill or one with high skill but poor bedside manner?

Decision styles: Understanding different approaches to making choices and their impact on teams.

Reflection

  • Notice how quickly you responded. That's your leadership fingerprint.
  • Are you mostly an analyzer or actor? What about the class?
  • What might make you shift sides?
  • What kind of siutations flip your instinct?

Narrative leadership: Using storytelling to build trust, inspire others, and drive healthcare change.

... use AI to make triage decisions during a crisis or rely solely on human judgment under stress?

Intuitive Model: Respond INSTANTLY & trust your gut with one-word reactions You are offered your dream job in another country and need to decide immediately.

... mandate flu vaccines for all employees or allow personal choice even if patient safety is at risk?

Charity & social justice: Exploring the leader's role in advancing fairness and access in healthcare.

A board member's relative is asking for special treatment.

The shipment of vaccines is delayed -- but the public clinic opens in two hours.

Scenario & Instructions

  • Scenario: You are the hospital's ethics triage team. You have five patients, but only three ventilators available.
  • Your goal: Decide who gets the ventilators using your assigned decision model.
  • Instructions: Melissa will break you into three groups and assign a decision model.

... prioritize end-of-life comfort or extend life at any cost if the patient’s wishes are unknown?

In healthcare leadership

  • Most leaders shift among these various types.
  • Pay attention to what type feels most natural to you.

... lead a team that always agrees with you or one that constantly challenges your ideas?

An anonymous email accuses your co-worker of stealing meds -- but offers no proof.

Fear & barriers to leadership: Common personal obstacles that prevent individuals from stepping into leadership roles.

You learn mid-meeting that next year's funding will be cut by 40%.

... allocate one ICU bed to a 90-year-old community pillar or a 20-year-old with no family support?

Example

  • Scenario: When there is chaos at work, what's the first thing you want to do?
  • Facts: Check what's actually happening (data gathering).
  • Logic: Immediately start fixing the problem.
  • Possibilities: Dream up a new way to avoid chaos forever.
  • People: Check to make sure everyone is okay.

Innovation & entrepreneurship in healthcare: Creating and leading new solutions for system improvement.

Reflection

  • How often do you think about your values in relation to your decisions?
  • Which values connected the group most closely?
  • How do our values in decision making ease and create conflict? What should leaders do about that?

No Visitor Policy in Pediatrics: An infectious disease outbreak forces the hospital to consider banning all visitors - including parents - from the pediatric ward. Do you support the policy?

Diversity, equity & inclusion: Builiding inclusive environments where all individuals can thrive.

Your organization just received a $500,000 grant from a soda company for health education. Thumbs up if you accept the money. Thumbs down if you decline the grant.

Change management in healthcare systems: Guiding people and organizations through transitions in practice and policy.

A viral post accuses your organization of racial discrimination. Your director tells you to stay silent. Thumbs up if you follow the directive. Thumbs down if you issue a public statement anyway.

Instructions

Decision Web
  • Purpose: To help students visualize how personal values influence decisions - and how those choices affect others.
  • One student starts with the yarn and names a decision they often make, it's associated value, and a ripple effect.
  • They hold onto their end and toss the yarn to another student.
  • Think of the metaphors associated with the yarn (i.e. all of our decisions impact others).

Bounded Rationality: You have 3 second to provide a good-enough answer and move on You've overdrawn your bank account. What do you do first?

Instructions

Yes, And... Speed Dating

Stand in two lines facing each other. Melissa will give you a scenario. You and your partner will need to answer, yes, and... We'll repeat through all scenarios.

Example: Your clinic just learned the supply budget was cut in half -- right before flu season.

  • Yes, and we can start by checking what supplies we already have to avoid double-ordering.
  • Yes, and maybe we can set up a swap system with nearby clinics.
  • Yes, and we could ask patients for unopened supply donations.

Instructions

Four Corners of Choice
  • Purpose: Explore how different decision frames - data, innovation, logic, and values - affect team energy and solutions in healthcare.
  • Melissa will give a short healthcare scenario.
  • Students move to the corner that represents their instinctive response. This is "why" behind your gut response.
  • Groups have 2 minutes to create a mini-pitch solution.
  • Groups share, and next scenario is played.

Intersectionality: Understanding how overlapping identities (race, gender, class) affect experiences and leadership perspectives.

Social Media Whistleblowing: A nurse posts on TikTok about unsafe staffing levels, drawing national attention - but violating hospital media policy. Should leadership discipline or protect her?

What framework was easiest for you to use? Why do you think this is?

Trauma-informed leadership & resilience: Leading with awareness of trauma's impact on individuals and systems.

Instructions

Flip A Decision
  • Purpose: Practice flexibility and perspective-taking.
  • Melissa provides a scenario. All students put heads down with a thumbs up or down to the proposed decision.
  • Students tag hands around the class until the timer ends. The student last tagged by the timer end must argue the opposite to the class' decision.

Rational Model: Name three steps you'd take before deciding You must choose a graduate school.

Technology fails during a telehealth appointment with a high-risk patient.

Self-awareness: A framework for understanding how personal blind spots and openness impact leadership effectiveness.

Power & ethics: How authority, influence, and moral responsibility intersect in leadership decisions.

Locus of control: How belief in internal versus external control influences leadership style and decision-making.

Your clinic is trending on social media with a negative review.

Executive presence: The combination of confidence, communication, and credibility that enables a leader to inspire trust and influence others effectively.

Learning cycles: The process of reflection, action, and adaptation that drives leadership growth.

Theories of change: Frameworks for how organizations evolve and how leaders guide transformation.

A student accidentally deletes part of a patient record.

Instructions

  • Melissa will read a healthcare scenario.
  • Students choose a corner of the room representing their most preferred response.
  • Repeat the cycle until complete with the scenarios.

Managing versus leading: Differentiating between management (processes) and leadership (vision and influence).

Staff show up wearing Halloween costumes ona day with a hospital board tour.