Decision Architecture · Management consulting and executive education

The problem isn't information.
It is the quality of the
decisions made with it.

I advise organizations on how their decisions are produced, and I design and deliver development programmes for managers and specialist teams.

Dr. Hakkı Yıldırmaz
Explore the work areas Explore training and programmes

Do the decisions you take reach execution, or do they come back to the table because something was left unclear?

Can your leadership team gain speed and hold on to decision quality at the same time?

Do your development programmes change how the work is done, and not only people's skills?

If the answers are not clear, the place to look is the decision itself: on what information it rests, who makes it, and how it is carried into execution. The use of AI belongs inside that decision system, not alongside it.

30+
Years of corporate experience, with senior management responsibility across sectors
4
Sectors: banking, fintech, retail, technology
PhD
Executive practice and academic grounding: doctorate in management and organization, focused on knowledge management
Work Areas

Three areas we can work on together

They appear as three separate problems. Most of the time they are different symptoms of the same system.

Work area 01
Leadership Readiness for the AI Era
The organization is investing in AI. The tools arrive, but the way managers work and decide stays exactly as it was.
For whomSenior executives and managers at other levels
How it worksA preparation session with the management team; selected workflows examined as they actually run today; manager groups working on their own tasks; the resulting model piloted in a limited scope.
OutputA human–AI working model that defines decision rights, human control points and follow-up; a prioritized readiness agenda for senior management.
Work area 02
Decisions That Keep Reopening
The same item reaches the management table for the third time. A decision is taken, but it does not move into execution — or it is reopened some time later.
For whomCEO and the senior management team
How it worksOne specific decision process is taken up. Decisions revisited because new information arrived are separated from those reopened because ownership or process was unclear. The decision owner, the required inputs, the approval points and the follow-up are then defined together.
OutputClear decision rights and a follow-up mechanism for that decision, plus a framework that applies to other decisions of the same pattern. Scope and duration are set in the first conversation.
Work area 03
From Training to Behaviour
"We run the training, attendance and satisfaction are good. But we cannot see it in how the work is done."
For whomCHRO, HR and organizational development leaders
How it worksThe target group and the expected change in behaviour are defined; linked modules are built into a development journey around real business problems. Assignments between sessions, manager feedback and a reinforcement session are planned according to scope.
OutputA concrete work product each participant produces from their own job, and a structure that tracks development through observed practice rather than training hours.
Let's talk about what you need
Training and Development Programmes

Better thinking.
Better decisions.
Stronger organizations.

I design and deliver applied programmes that strengthen how teams read data, break down problems, weigh options and present their recommendations clearly. The work can start with a single programme, be integrated into your existing corporate academy, or be built as a linked development journey.

Development journeys
Linked programme series in which several capabilities are developed together around one shared business problem.
All journeys
Standalone programmes
Modules that can be delivered on their own or integrated into your existing academy.
All programmes
One example from practice

Data literacy and data storytelling in banking. In work with a bank's Talent and Culture team, the aim was for participants to read data accurately, turn findings into insight, and present their recommendations in decision-ready form. The exercises were built on synthetic data sets and cases written for an HR context.

What participants produced: short executive narratives connecting finding, meaning, impact and recommendation. A second programme was designed and is now being delivered to support the same group's Excel skills.

The full programme catalogue Download the programme catalogue (PDF, in Turkish)
The Thinking Organization

The model behind the approach

Decision quality is not set by any single stage, but by a chain whose links feed one another. The chain has three links, and two elements that the whole process depends on.

Required throughout
Access
Does the information a decision needs reach the person who will make it, in time, from a reliable and current source?
Required throughout
Shared problem definition
Are the teams discussing the same problem, and do differing interpretations become visible rather than being suppressed?
These two are not a preliminary stage; they are needed at every link of the chain. Missing information can surface during reasoning, and the problem can be redefined — that is normal, and a movement the system should expect.
1
Reasoning
Are the reliability of the evidence and the assumptions beneath it tested systematically?
2
Decision
Are alternatives and trade-offs weighed, and is a judgement reached whose rationale is explicit?
3
Execution
Does that judgement become an action with a named owner and visible follow-up?
The result of execution feeds back into the next round of reasoning: which assumption held, which evidence was missing, where the decision came under strain. Results are reviewed together; assumptions, decision criteria or ways of working are updated; and whether that update is actually used in the next decision is tracked.

In advisory work I take up this chain as it currently runs in the organization; in development programmes we build the individual capabilities that operate it. Developing the system and the individual capabilities together helps the gains hold.

About

What 30+ years have taught me

I have more than 30 years of corporate experience in banking, fintech, retail and technology, much of it in senior management roles.

At organizations such as DenizBank, Turkland Bank and LC Waikiki, I held direct responsibility for:

Across different sectors and different scales, one thing kept repeating: even with the technology and the talent in place, what usually decided the outcome was how the decision itself had been produced.

Academic grounding

After a degree in Industrial Engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU), I completed an MBA and a doctorate in Management and Organization at Yeditepe University. My doctoral work examined the relationship between knowledge management capabilities and company performance. I have taught E-Business and Management Information Systems at university level.

I am the author of Hayatın Hakkını Ver — Senin Yolun, Senin Hikayen (“Make the Most of Your Life — Your Path, Your Story”), published in Turkish.

Writing and Publications

What I write about thinking

Articles on management, decisions and learning; academic publications and a book.

Artificial intelligence · Management A Faster Horse: Your Team Is Faster with AI. Is the Work? Sending teams to AI training is a valuable start. But unless the way an organization makes decisions changes, individual speed does not carry through to results in the same measure. Artificial intelligence · Knowledge management The Knowledge Problem AI Cannot Solve Alone AI makes it cheaper and faster to use what a company has already written down. It does not, on its own, surface the reasoning that was never recorded. From a doctoral finding and experiences at two companies.
Academic publications Knowledge management capabilities, new product development and company performance. Doctoral thesis completed at Yeditepe University and a peer-reviewed article published in the International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management. Book Hayatın Hakkını Ver — Senin Yolun, Senin Hikayen. On knowing yourself, asking the right questions and taking the step. Published in Turkish.
All writing and publications
Contact

What would you like to make work better?

In a first conversation we clarify the need, the scope and the right next step. It is usually one of three:

Advisory work — a scoped engagement with the management team on one decision process or governance question.

Development programme — a single programme for one target group, integration into your academy, or a linked journey.

Coaching and mentoring — individual work with senior executives and newly appointed leaders.

info@hakkiyildirmaz.com LinkedIn Coaching and mentoring Download the overview (PDF, in Turkish)