Welcome

Hi. I’m Irma Parone. Welcome to my course, based on my book WINX: The Problem Solving Model to Win with Customers, Employees, and Your Bottom Line.

I work with executives and their teams to create organizational effectiveness. I have visited, researched, studied, and talked to many companies with great processes including Ritz-Carlton, Mindvalley, and many others.

In this class, I share the method I’ve developed from my expertise and research on making better decisions. I also bring in my extensive corporate background, ongoing developmental education, and consulting experience to combine the process of decision making with the culture of winning in the workplace.

8 Steps. 3 Wins. Here we go!

“Good, bad, ugly, or awesome, we are the decisions we make.”

Decisions are Emotional

We make thousands of decisions everyday. But how often do we think about how we can make better decisions? Focused decision-making makes for better business, whether you're a solopreneur, a small business, or in the C-suite of a corporation.

But many decisions are emotional, driven by a combination of inputs from what the late position and neuroscientist Paul McLean called the triune brain, the:

1. basal ganglia
2. the limbic system, and
3. the neocortex

I know I know, this is hard to swallow. I didn’t believe it myself so I dug deeper. Sorry to tell you, there is no such thing as a truly rational mind.

Whether it's personal, professional or emotional issue, mindset works hand in hand to compliment, sure up, or derail all of our decisions.

Even simply being aware of this emotional influence, can improve your decision making process. The more you understand how you make decisions, the better you can manage the outcome.

The Focused Trio

Business leaders make better decisions by focusing on the impact of their decisions on what I call the Focused Trio, which is composed - at least in the service industry - of your customers, your employees, and your company. What if you don’t work in the typical service industry? Or what if your focused trio includes patients rather than “customers”? No problem, just switch out the titles. Nearly all industries have a focused trio. For simplicity, I will use the customer, employees & company.

Making decisions for better outcomes

• Every decision we make impacts others.
• Focused decision-making includes all of the Focused Trio—customers, employees, and your company.
• Positive yet strategic wins will help you develop more productive, engaged, and successful employees. This equals happy customers.
• Making decisions as objectively as possible makes it more likely that we don’t make bad decisions.

Small bad decisions become big bad decisions.

• We are all human, all emotional, and all fallible. Every decision brings different challenges.
• Decision making is a science and practice, but it is not an exact science and, as we know, it’s very much connected to our emotions and to how we feel on a given day or time.
• Good decisions can result in bad outcomes, and bad decisions can result in good outcomes.
• Even making no decision is still a decision.

So let’s learn how to make informed, intentional decisions in a timely manner.

What’s winning to you?

• Winning is setting and meeting personal or company goals.
• What you win isn't as important as actually being able to clearly define what winning means to you.
• A win can result in another person or group’s loss. Remember to assess your goals and take your Focused Trio’s goals into account as well.

8 Steps of the WinX Method

Here are the 8 Steps to the WINX Problem-Solving Method. We will deep-dive into each step in the following modules.

Step 1: Craft your problem statement

• Problem statement: a concise description of the problem or issues a project seeks to address.

Step 2: Determine the root cause of the problem

• Your problem statement may be perfect, but be sure to address the real root cause. Are you working on the right problem? Or a symptom of that problem?

Step 3: Evaluate the impact of the current problem

• A NO decision, is a decision. Before you get stuck, consider how, when, what, where, and why is this problem impacting the Focused Trio.

Step 4: Problem solving

• Explore different options and methods of problem solving.

Step 5: Evaluate alternatives

• The best solutions will have risen to the top. Now you must tear them apart.

Step 6: The decision step

• Present solutions to the decision maker (or review them if you’re the decision maker) and make the call.

Step 7: Prepare for impact

• Prepare your employees, customers, and company for the impact of the decision.
• Plan contingencies for the decision, the outcome, and follow up on the impact of the decision.

Step 8: Implement and manage the decision

• Develop a strategic plan for implementing the decision and follow up with the WINX Post-Decision Review. 

Get ready to WIN:

When you are finished with this class, you will be able to look at a problem from different angles, see possible alternative solutions, consider the impact on others, and set a powerful intention.

Make sure you’re willing to sincerely and honestly INTEND to work toward finding a solution that best supports the focused trio—the customer, the company, and the employee.

Downloadable and reusable forms for the WINX process
can be found at paronegroup.com/WINX

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THESE FORMS> paronegroup.com/WINX

Get a Copy of the Book

Click here to buy on Amazon.

Ask me a question

Send an email to [email protected]