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Seven
Tips For Better Decision-Making
06/26/03 - Everyone
sometimes feels stymied by the need to make a tough decision. But business
management consists of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of decisions that constantly
need to be made. If you want to move ahead, you need to learn
to make better, more strategic decisions. And, you need to be “right” a
greater percentage of the time.
Here
are seven tactics that will help you become a more effective decision-maker:
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Don’t
agonize.
Get comfortable with the fact that, with many decisions, you can’t know
“for sure.” For example, prospects and customer personnel change jobs every day.
Sometimes they even move to a different company. Go with this flow and
take advantage of it. Make "allies" of those you deal with and
don't agonize over the prospect of starting over with a new person who
takes their place. It's another opportunity - not a setback. You just have no way of
knowing what good will come of a change, but if you view it as a positive
event, your chance for rewards will be enhanced.
-
Respect
your hunches. Intuition
is not random. It is the result of accessing vast knowledge and
experience in your subconscious mind. As such, intuition requires your
acknowledgement and attention.
-
Consider movement
toward a decision, when necessary.
Sometimes a decision can’t be an instantaneous, snap-of-the-fingers
event. Movement in one direction or another can bring a new perspective
that helps you make the right decision.
-
Recognize
that decisions are one piece of a larger puzzle.
If you can put a decision in its broader perspective, it will rarely feel
as crucial as it did before.
-
Communicate
decisions quickly.
Be sure to communicate your decisions quickly both externally to
prospects, customers, suppliers
and internally to your staff. This keeps the decision, and its
implications, from being misunderstood or distorted.
-
Force
yourself, even if it takes time that you don’t feel you have, to listen
to opposing views.
Your decisions are more likely to be supported when you have taken
others’ views into account.
-
Recognize
your own decision-making style and allow the strengths of your style to
work for you.
Do you tend to be more emotional or more logical? Go with the flow of your
natural style, but force yourself to recognize the traits to which you
need to pay attention.
Basic Source:
Preston Levitt, Attorney, speaking at a conference for manufacturing company
executives. Content has been edited here.
That's it for this month. Thanks
for tuning in - and if you have some comments -
we'd enjoy hearing from you.
William H. Thompson
Principal
PS - Visit
the Thompson Group web site. Click here!
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