Models for coaching
Decision Matrix
Useful in coaching for Building a Plan, Making a Change, Setting Goals
- What is a Decision Matrix?
- How is a Decision Matrix used?
- A Decision Matrix makes you choose what's important
- How to use a Decision Matrix – Exercise
- 1. Choose the options you want to include
- 2. Add some factors to your decision matrix
- 3. Work out the relative importance of each factor
- 4. Work out the relative importance of each factor
- 5. Adding weighting to your decision matrix
- 6. Scoring your Decision Matrix options and factors
What is a Decision Matrix?
A Decision Matrix is a way to weigh up the variables associated with a decision or dilemma – to help you make an informed decision. It’s useful for reflecting on the various aspects (factual or emotional) that make up a situation.
It’s most useful when you have a wide range of factors that you need sort through and reflect on. Most of the time a decision matrix is used to sort logical or objective facts, but it can also be used to break down your feelings and passions towards factors too. It’s not just for business situations, but helpful for more emotional or life-based decisions.
You may also find a Decision Matrix called a Pugh matrix, decision grid, selection matrix or grid, problem matrix, problem selection matrix, opportunity analysis, solution matrix, criteria rating form, criteria-based matrix. They all essentially mean the same thing, just with slightly different slants.
How is a Decision Matrix used?
A Decision Matrix can be useful in two ways. Firstly, it forces you to choose the factors you’re going to include – helping you clarify what’s important in the first place. Secondly, it helps you to work through the various aspects and mark their value or importance.
A Decision Matrix makes you choose what’s important
The exercise of creating a decision matrix forces you to choose what’s worth including in the first place. For example, if you’re choosing a new car you may decide that colour isn’t important but a decent MPG is. Or if it’s a career move, location might be really important but the office layout isn’t. Just going through this process with the decision matrix can help you be clear about what’s really important.
Using a decision matrix makes you weigh up options
Secondly, a decision matrix helps you reflect on the value or importance you put against something. In a logical, business context you’d use it to “value weigh” your options (more on this later) but you can also use it to weigh your feelings towards factors.
Uses for a Decision Matrix:
- When there’s no, clear “winner” and you need to lay out your thinking.
- When you have multiple, sometimes similar, options to choose from.
- Weighing up a range of factors to choose what’s most important.
- To help justify or explain your thinking to someone else.
How to use a Decision Matrix – Exercise
Below is a step-by-step guide for creating your own Decision Matrix and using it to weigh up your options.
1. Choose the options you want to include
First, we’re going to list all the options on the rows of the sheet. These are the things you’re going to compare.
In the example below we’re using a Career move. You have three options to choose from so we’ll pop them down on the rows. So far, so simple.
Choose the options you want to include
First, we’re going to list all the options on the rows of the sheet. These are the things you’re going to compare.
In the example below we’re using a Career move. You have three options to choose from so we’ll pop them down on the rows. So far, so simple.
2. Add some factors to your decision matrix
Next, we’re going to start populating the important factors you want to consider on your decision matrix. A factor is an aspect that is important to you in making a decision.
It’s definitely worth spending some time reflecting on what’s important and what’s not, so you can keep the list focused on what really matters.
For a washing machine this is relatively easy (spin cycle, options, load capacity) but if, in this example, you’re making a career move you’ll want to carefully consider exactly what’s important to you and what’s not. For some, prestige will outweigh Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), for others commute will be vital but the office environment less so.
In this example below we’ve chosen 5 factors of importance.
Questions worth asking when filling in your decision matrix
- What can’t you live without at work?
- What’s going to have the biggest impact on your mental health and sense of purpose?
- If you could choose just one thing of importance, what would it be?
- What’s the thing you appreciate most about your current situation/career/washing machine?
3. Work out the relative importance of each factor
Now we’ve got the rows and columns filled in we’re going to access each factor and give it a number.
It doesn’t matter what scale you use (as long as it’s consistent) but let’s use a scale of 0 to 5 for this example. 0 is a low score and 5 is high.
In the example below we can see that we’ve given Career Option 1 a high score in the Benefits package but 0 in Networking Opportunities. In this, made up, example it’s because Career Option 1 offers more travel but also means more solo working.
4. Work out the relative importance of each factor
Now we’ve got the rows and columns filled in we’re going to access each factor and give it a number.
It doesn’t matter what scale you use (as long as it’s consistent) but let’s use a scale of 0 to 5 for this example. 0 is a low score and 5 is high.
In the example below we can see that we’ve given Career Option 1 a high score in the Benefits package but 0 in Networking Opportunities. In this, made up, example it’s because Career Option 1 offers more travel but also means more solo working.
When marking your factors
- Try to remain consistent in how you mark each factor across the options.
- If something’s hard to mark, consider why that might be.
- Consider all the evidence you’ve felt, seen and heard to help mark the factors.
5. Adding weighting to your decision matrix
Now we’re going to add “weighting” to each of the factors you’ve included. This gives us a numeric value of importance next to each factor.
Go through each of the factors you’ve chosen and decide how important it is when compared to the rest of the factors. For example, when looking at the 5 factors below we decide that Freedom / Autonomy is really important so we give it a 5, but perhaps Networking Options is less so, so we give it a 2.
How to think about weighting your decision matrix
- As above, consider how vital this factor is to your long-term happiness?
- What’s likely to become important quickly?
- If you’re finding yourself weighting everything equally, perhaps you need to be a little tougher. If you had to choose, what’s most and least important?
6. Scoring your Decision Matrix options and factors
Now we’ve scored our factors and also given each a “weighting”, it’s time to tot up the numbers and arrive at a conclusion.
Multiply the score you gave the factor by the weighting. For example, if we look at Benefits Package (which we’ve weighted a 4) we’d then multiply that number by the score you gave each option.
So, for Career move 1 we’d multiple 5 x 4 = 20.
This is where a decision matrix is incredibly useful as it helps you dissect a range of factors and then gives you a clear, numeric outcome at the end. We can see from the scores below that Career move 1 is coming out on top based on the criteria used.
How to review your scores
When you look at your scores, do they “feel” right? This is more important for subjective decisions that objective ones. If they do, that’s great!
If something doesn’t feel right you may have missed an important factor that outweighs all the others. Go back to stage 2 and ask if there’s anything else you think you should add.
That’s it!
That’s a summary of how to use the Decision Matrix to help you review, analyse and compare different options (and come up with and objective score at the end).
Other Coaching Models
Here’s some more helpful coaching and self-reflection models
Four Laws of Behaviour Change
Jung’s Model of the Psyche
