How To Make A Decision With Precision

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Calculated speed is a sign of confidence, intelligence and effectiveness. It’s not just about getting tasks completed. It's about getting the right things done fast. People respect others more when they make a wrong decision and grow from it as opposed to people who are afraid to make decisions. There is a tendency for people to rely on one comfortable approach. In the Harvard Business Review, Paolo Gaudiano points out that effective decision making isn’t about data or experience, it’s about the integration of both.

Decision making is a learnable skill. People who think they aren’t good at making decisions have often talked themselves out of being effective at making decisions.

A lot of the work I do with executives is around power and influence. One of the quickest ways to lose or gain influence capital is around decision making. If you’re thought of as someone who can’t make a decision, it deducts from your influence "bank account." If you’re thought of as someone who can make tough decisions, it makes deposits in your influence bank account.

Below are some common decision-making mistakes:

1. Thinking that the more important a decision is, the more difficult it has to be to make a call

2. Believing that the amount of time you spend on a decision directly improves the value of your decision

3. Spending too much time on collecting information

4. Letting feelings cripple your progress

5. Going with your first choice

6. Worrying too much about what others think

7. Not worrying at all what others think

8. Not having a consistent approach to making a decision

There are three types of decisions: command, consensus and combination.

A command decision is when one person is in control and they make the decision. It’s often the case that the decision is already made and there is no need to involve others in the process.

A consensus decision is when all parties involved make the decision. The goal is to get all points of view and make a decision that everyone can support.

A combination decision is when you integrate the points of views of others, then either make the decision on your own or designate someone or some group to make the decision. Once you know the type, follow these three steps to make the decision.

Define

Define the challenge and the decision rules. Think through how important and how urgent the decision is. Give yourself a timeline and decide who needs to be involved. When determining who should be involved in the process, be strategic and think through it from two perspectives: practical and political. The practical is about who has information or expertise that you can leverage. The political is about who needs to be involved or informed so you can use the decision as an opportunity to build alliances and don’t alienate anyone.

Deliberate

Identify the options. Make a list of the possible outcomes and their impact. This is also an opportunity to discuss the potential options with others. You should make it a priority to get as many viewpoints from a variety of people as possible. Whether you get diverse viewpoints from other people or you think through it yourself, you need to include three core approaches. It’s likely that you tend to see things and make decisions based on one of three mindsets: head, hands and heart.

The head mindset is all about being analytical and logical. You are focused on the rational side of things and the facts. Your primary concern is around getting things right.

The heart mindset is all about dealing with feeling. You are focused on emotion and how decisions impact others. The primary concern is on how the decision you make will make others feel.

The hands mindset is all about getting things done. You are focused on how quickly you can take action. The primary concern is on results and moving on to the next action item.

Each of these mindsets is valuable. Identify which one you tend to align with. Protect yourself from making decisions that you only see through your point of view or primary mindset. The best thing you can do is to identify people who have different mindsets and talk through your decisions from their point of view.

Decide

Make the decision and move forward with confidence. Have confidence in the process and that you have done your due diligence. The hardest thing about making a decision is the struggle before the decision is made.

Forward motion is what leads to success. That doesn’t mean you can’t get stuck or have bad days where you are moving slow. It means that you need to be accountable to yourself to not stay stuck and let yourself get into a “what if" whirlpool of spiraling thoughts.

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/07/23/how-to-make-a-decision-with-precision/