Theodore Roosevelt said, “In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is make the right decision, the worst thing you can do is make the wrong decision, and the worst thing you can do is make no decision at all.”
Yet, when it comes to Making Better Decisions decisions, we are afraid of making the wrong move. As a result, we sit back and hope that the right decision will come to us over time. You already know that this is not the best way to go, especially when it comes to distributing work tasks and managing a team. Instead, it makes sense to identify the skills and tips that will help you make decisions faster that previously stumped you.
“Leaders aren’t afraid to make decisions,” says behavioral and marketing psychologist Dr. Elliot Jaffa. “That’s something that only followers do.”
Indeed, decision-making is one of the pillars of effective leadership. But, no offense to Teddy Roosevelt, it’s easier said than done. Let’s look at some strategies to help you develop your decision-making skills.
Obstacles to Making the Best Decisions
We have all made good and bad decisions in our lives. Why does this happen? There are many factors that influence the consequences of our decisions.
“One of the obstacles is the false belief that we don’t have time to think,” explains Mike Kallet, CEO of HeadScratchers and author of india telegram data This is stupid, because if you don’t think things through, you’ll make mistakes and end up wasting more time, not to mention wasted money and missed opportunities.”
As a result, when it comes to decision-making, we often prioritize speed over efficiency. “We get paid to get things done,” Kallet continues. “And we like it when things go well. And when we take time to think about a problem, we often feel like we’re wasting time.”
Another obstacle to decision making is fixation. “Decision fixation is caused by the way our short-term memory is wired,” says Yolanda Berry, MSc in behavioural economics and principal consultant at UK Behavioural Economics.
“While there is no direct connection between the two answers, the fact remains that the number retained in our short-term memory influences our ability to make correct guesses,” she says.
explore top sources to buy email lists for marketing is another phenomenon that can seriously impact the search for sensible solutions. “There is compelling evidence that the number of decisions affects the quality of decisions,” Berry continues.
Fax Database that doctors are more likely to prescribe antibiotics at the end of a shift than at the beginning. And judges are more likely to deny Making Better Decisions parole requests in the evening than in the morning. This clearly shows that decision fatigue is real. It significantly reduces our chances of making the right choice.
How to make the right decisions
Now that we’ve identified the obstacles that stand in the way of making good decisions, it’s time to identify strategies that will increase your chances of overcoming them. Here are six tips to improve your decision-making skills.
1. Understand the essence of the problem
If you don’t know where to start, Kallet advises first defining what the problem is—what exactly we’re dealing with. Once you’ve clarified the nature of the problem, you’ll be better able to prioritize.
“Most mistakes in decision making arise because you don’t fully understand the problem and start from the solution rather than from the problem,” explains Kallet.
“Is the goal of our meeting to make a decision by the time it ends, which is an hour from now, or is the goal of our meeting to explore all possible options?” asks Teresa Houston, PhD, author of How Women Decide, on the Harvard Business Review Ideacast . “Those are very different goals.”
By understanding the problem and prioritizing it accordingly, you will have the basis for making a more informed decision.
2. Free yourself from the need to make secondary decisions
Take a moment to think of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs. Now imagine their most famous clothes. It’s a strange request Making Better Decisions, right? But I bet you’re picturing Steve Jobs’s famous black turtleneck or Mark Zuckerberg’s signature gray T-shirt.
We’ve already discussed how decision fatigue affects the quality of our decisions. By delegating, automating, or even skipping decisions that you don’t have to make yourself, you can save your mental resources for more important things.
“Planning and making decisions ahead of time will relieve some of that fatigue,” Berry says.
Planning your dinner menu for the week ahead of time, delegating issues that no longer apply to you to another employee—clearing your mental space like this can help you a lot.
3. Select multiple options
“Most people stick to Plan A and never think about Plan B, C, or D,” says Dr. Jaffa. When trying to make a decision, it’s important to find options that are truly different.
Houston explains that we can easily fall into the trap of seeing only one choice, but convincing ourselves that there are really two: “We often think: Should I do this or not? Should I hire Samantha or not? Should I take a break and walk for half an hour or not? In each of these cases, we have only one choice: either I change something or I stay the same.”
Typically, Houston says, it’s best to come up with three good alternatives. She gives the example of a company deciding whether to build a garage.
“Instead of choosing between having or not having a garage, here are three options: build a garage, give all employees bus passes, or let them work from home for a day,” she continues. “They’re all solutions to the same problem, but they’re very different.”
Finding multiple possible choices will naturally improve the quality of your final decision. You are truly choosing the best option, rather than limiting yourself to a yes or no.
4. Develop a structured approach
It feels weird to try to structure your decision making. But trust me: it can be a great help to you.
“A great way to minimize the impact of fixation and other cognitive biases is to carefully structure your decision-making process,” Berry advises. “Training your brain to follow the same process can help reduce the influence of extraneous memories.”
This may seem complicated, but it can be deceptive. Your process can be as simple as creating a series of questions that you ask yourself every time you have to make a decision.
“That’s why the most effective project managers are always clear about the risks and dependencies when they’re planning a project,” Berry continues. “Flowcharts, contingency plans, and decision matrices not only help eliminate cognitive biases, they also help you make decisions in advance based on a range of possible scenarios.”
Sit down and think about how you might structure your decision-making process. Whether it’s a sequence of steps to take or elements to consider, a structure like this will help you make choices with all the information you need.
5. Postpone the moment of decision-making
You’ve probably heard that before you make an important decision, you should “sleep on it.” If you’ve previously rolled your eyes and dismissed this as a cliche, don’t be so quick to dismiss it. As it turns out, putting off an important decision for a bit can actually make the best choice.
“Whether you actually sleep or not, the point is that it’s always a good idea to push back the decision a little bit,” says Houston. “You might not be able to push it back for a week, but even an hour can make a big difference.”
Take, for example, the results of a study conducted at the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics : using the Ultimatum Game and 168 participants, scientists came to the conclusion that by postponing making a decision for a while, we usually achieve better results.
6. Look from the outside
When you’re trying to solve a problem, it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees. That’s why scientists recommend looking at the situation by asking yourself one question: What advice would you give to a friend in the same situation? Taking an outside perspective can give you a more objective picture and help you take into account all the information and different perspectives on the problem.
This is supported by research from the University of Waterloo and the University of Michigan. The researchers surveyed 100 people and asked them a question about relationships. Some were asked to imagine that their partner or spouse was cheating on them, while others were asked to imagine that their friend was cheating on them. The participants then filled out a questionnaire that assessed their rational thinking skills.
“As the researchers expected, respondents who tried to help a friend demonstrated a more rational approach than those who thought about themselves,” explains Melissa Dahl in an article in New York Magazine .
If you feel like you can’t decide on anything, try using the same tactic and look at the situation from the outside. This will ultimately help you find a more reasonable solution.
It’s time to make the right decisions
Making good decisions is one of the most important components of effective leadership. Unfortunately, it is often easier said than done.
If you (like many of us) have a hard time making decisions, here are some helpful strategies that can help you develop this valuable skill:
- Figure out what exactly the problem is.
- Delegate minor decisions to others.
- Find several worthy options to choose from.
- Develop a decision-making framework or process.
- Take a break and put off looking for a solution for a while.
- Think about what advice you would give to a friend if he found himself in the same situation.
By trying at least some of these strategies, you are guaranteed to improve your ability to make better decisions.
