When running a business you need to be on your game, always “on†and making good decisions every day. Have you ever asked yourself if you’re a good decision maker? Making good decisions is what it’s all about, whether you’re an entrepreneur, an executive level employee, or involved in a position that requires leadership. So what if you’re not a good decision maker? Can you learn how? Can you develop the skill? You bet you can. This is another one of my checklist type articles that you can use when you listen to the companion Podcast on www.franchisemoneymaker.com
Different people have different processes of making decisions; although I have discovered that good decisions tend to be the ones that utilize a specific process that leads to the decision. Very rarely have I seen someone make a good decision by accident. Let’s not confuse luck with good thinking. Certainly the decisions that “just happen†have their place, and there is always something to be learned from them, but today we’ll be discussing the learned process of making good decisions. When you become practiced at good decision making by using the process that goes along with it, you will be able to face any business challenge with a reduced level of stress and an increased level of success.
Good decisions are the product of a specific process. All good decisions contain components or elements that are universal. Such as considering all the available alternatives and revisiting the result of the decision as well as components that center around the decision maker’s values, personality and perception of the situation at hand. Utilizing all these elements in the process is vital to successful decision making.
Check list and steps to achieve good Decision-Making
Not every decision in your life is so big that it requires a checklist in order to proceed. However, if you practice these steps on small decisions when you first begin, the process will become second nature. You want this to become a way of thinking in your life that will make all your decision making, big or small, seamless in the course of your normal day. You will quickly discover that this decision-making process will apply to both personal and professional decisions.
1. Get a grip. Identify, with as much detail as possible, what the decision is.
· Do you really need to make a decision? (If you do not have at least two options, there is no decision to be made.)
· When does the decision need to be made?
· Is this decision important to you?
· Does this decision affect other issues or people?
· Will the decision involve issues that are inconsistent with my personal or professional values?
· Is this your decision or someone else’s?
2. Organize your thoughts and if possible, write down as many alternatives that you believe exist. Think out of the box, and DO NOT PREJUDGE any possible option.
3. Turn that apple cart over! Research more alternatives, and by all means rock the boat! Start on the web, ask friends, family, check for information in newspapers, magazines, books, state and federal agencies, and if possible, seek out respected individuals in your field where you could gather more information about possible alternatives. Additional information generally leads to additional alternatives.
4. Poke’m and try to punch holes in the reliability of the alternatives. Once you have made a list of options and alternatives, check the viability, reliability and integrity of those options. Also take the time to find out more about the specifics of each option. The more information you gather, the more ideas you’ll come up with as you move forward.
5. Shake, rattle and roll all of your choices. Once you have a reliable list, it’s time to sort through the choices. I like to use the Shake, rattle and roll process. It’s fun and it proves to me when the decision will stand up to my needs & value criteria. Take a look at your needs and write down which of the alternatives best fits the needs of the issue. Don’t forget, shake, rattle and roll, look at the alternatives from every angle, stand on your head to get a different point of view. Next, put them in rank order as you see them. I always rank my alternatives by their cross-utilization ability. My top alternatives have multiple equity and value. And last but not least, I cross off the options that don’t fit in with my personal value system. I am a strong believer that if you make decisions without regard to your personal or life value system, you may make decisions that unnecessarily negatively impact other issues or people. I live by running a socially responsible corporation and practice that philosophy in my decision-making process.
6. Play the movie in your head by visualizing the outcome of each option. Do this for each option and them write a “review†of each movie? If you don’t make this fun, you’ll abandon the process and continue to make poor decisions.
7. Time for a Reality Check. Which of your options can you make happen? Which is most likely to happen? Sometimes the decision is dictated by time, money or other factors that must be considered in the process. So you need to do a reality check. If I’m lost, out in the cold, certainly a good option might be to build a house, but the reality of the situation may only allow me to choose the option of building a fire to survive in the freezing environment. Think about it. Don’t miss opportunities or allow things to get out of hand because you are either mired in the “paralysis of analysis†or if the option you choose is too difficult to execute for other reasons. Cross those alternatives off your list and don’t get hung on them. Move on.
8. Does your choice of alternative fit you like a glove? I believe a good or wise decision feels good all around although it’s not always pain or discomfort free at first. Keep in mind there may be a little “pain†in executing a good decision. As an example, I’d have to say going to the dentist for a root canal may cause some discomfort, but it’s a good decision when you consider the alternative of not taking care of an infected tooth. Besides if I add up all the “painful†moments I’ve had while sitting in a dentist chair they wouldn’t equal but a very tiny-fraction of the time that I’ve enjoyed eating a great meal with pain free teeth. With that in mind, review your remaining alternatives and decide which ones feel most comfortable to you. If you are happy about a decision, but are not as comfortable with its possible result, that’s an indication that it may not a good decision for you. On the other hand, you may not like one of your options, but yet you are excited about the possible outcome. Then that decision would most likely also not be good for you. Once you have an alternative that you feel you can live with both the alternative as well as the possible outcome, you have a good decision you should act upon.
9. Don’t just sit there, get going! Once you have made your decision, it’s time to put it into action. Do not worry about it or second guess yourself. You will drive yourself crazy. You may also become distracted from the task at hand and that would be an example of a poor decision. Feel confident that have used a solid process in order to make your decision. You always have the option of changing your mind in the future. It’s difficult to think of any decision that is so set in stone whereby the initial outcome wasn’t changeable with another decision or course of action.
10. Keep checking. Unlike opening the oven door to check a cake, opening your “decision door†to check on how things are going as a result of an earlier decision is a good thing. Ask yourself at specific intervals, how is it going? Be sure to review your decision. Is the result what you expected? Would you like to or need to make some modifications? If you haven’t made the best decision the first time around go through the decision-making process again… In the process, answer the following questions: Did I gather enough information? Did I check the reliability of my information and the source? Did I check off on my personal value system or someone else’s? The more you practice this technique the better you’ll get at it
Common Decision-Making Mistakes
We have our own set of prejudices or biases; the fact is that everyone does. The more aware you are of yours, the better off you will be when attempting to make a good decision. We get into trouble when we fail to realize that many of the perceptions we hold are based on what society (i.e., parents, teachers, the church, all institutions, etc.) teach us, not what we actually know to be true. We also try to gather so much information so quickly that we overload our brain and become overwhelmed by the information. That’s when you retain very little. It’s important to take in complicated or large amounts of information in “small bites.’ You will retain more information that way.
Try to avoid these common mistakes when decision making:
· Underestimating the information received from others. Whether we realize it or not, we discount information we receive from individuals such as children, low status groups, the elderly, homemakers, blue-collar workers, artists, etc. These groups may use entirely different values and perceptions in their answers to your questions. The result is a more varied point of view of what the issues really are. If you find yourself discounting the information you receive from anyone, ask yourself why.
· Only hearing or seeing what you want. Try this old grammar school exercise, it works to prove the point Ask a friend to look around them and make note of everything that is green. Ask them now to close their eyes. Once their eyes are closed, ask them to tell you what around them is red. Almost everyone you ask will not be able to tell you what was red because they were focusing on what was green. Perceptions work the same way. We have expectations or biases that we are not aware of, we tend to see what we want to see. If someone tries to tell us something we do not want to hear, we usually do not hear them. This is a common mistake. Be aware of your own prejudices and expectations while at the same time staying open to everything that comes your way.
· Relying too much on the experts or overestimating the value of information received from others. Collage students make this mistake quite often. They view their professors as more than human. Remember, experts are only human and have their own set of biases. The perception mechanism of a scientist, a politician, a professor or a salesperson is really not that different at all. Certainly because of their own perception they would ALL argue why their set of facts is somehow undeniable. Really now? Despite who may be offended by your desire for additional facts & opinions, seek information from many different sources, you will get a broader scope of information than if you focused all of your energy on only one source. If you find that you may be overestimating the value of “expert†information ask yourself: Do they know as much about this problem as I do? Are their values the same as mine? Have they had any personal experiences with a problem like mine? Keep their opinions in perspective.
· Not listening to the words of your mind, body and soul. What a shame that our society teaches us to ignore these feelings, but by tuning to your intuition, you will find that you will make much better decisions in the long run. We take in much more information than we can process in a reasonable time, so our bodies sometimes negatively react. Take time to meditate, quite your mind and you will “hear’ all the information you thought was lost. It’s not lost, you didn’t miss it, and it’s in your subconscious! If you don’t relax and that the time to simply “beâ€, you will never allow this information to flow up to your conscience mind. When you need to make a decision, listen to your body for clues to the answer through your feelings and/or gut reactions.
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