Two.

The second of the Five Steps to a Good Decision is to Name the Issue.

The commonest mistake in every decision making level of every organisation is to ignore our Widget.

(Hence the importance of Widget clarity.)

A Good Decision is one that advances us towards where we want to be - ie our Widget.

In Step 1, we purged our emotions so that we could make a decision using external information and not internal emotion.

In Step 2, we need to ask ourselves: ‘What is the Issue?’

We need to sift through all the information that we have and identify what it tells us about our Widget.

The answer is the Issue.

There are a number of tools that we can use to name the Issue:

• How does this information affect my Widget?
• What law, policy, procedure, rule, promise, value or other undertaking am I responsible for that requires me to act on this information?
• Do I have the authority to act on the information?
• What action does my Integrity (doing what I said I was going to do) demand of me in response to this information?

If there is no clear statement about whether you have the authority to make a decision, you could rely on the principle of Subsidiarity:

‘It is a fundamental principle of social philosophy, fixed and unchangeable, that one should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what they can accomplish by their own enterprise and/or industry.’

- Pope Pius XI

Don't be distracted or bound by what someone else tells you is the issue because they're defining it against their Widget - not yours.

A third party usually doesn’t get to decide what the Issue is.  You do.  

Because it’s your Widget.

You are in the job presumably because you have the experience, expertise and authority to make decisions about your Widget that serve the organisation’s Widget.

If the information does not affect your Widget, either pass it on to someone whose Widget may benefit from it, or…proceed to Step 3.