How To Make Good Decisions - A Few Tips

Decisions are sometimes required to be made under pressure when an immediate response is needed. Others are taken following a quiet period of reflection and understanding of relevant information such as data and case studies.

Ideally, decisions should be made when there's a subject expert in the room who has experience in the same situation. It doesn't mean that someone who hasn't experienced the same situation can't add value, but often people rely on guesswork or gut feelings to make decisions. Unfortunately, this is often unhelpful for the organisation, the people within it and for the customers.

Two Things to Bear in Mind when Decision-Making:

First of all, do you have the information you require in order to make a high quality decision that's good for the organization?

Secondly, should the decision be made by you alone, or would it be sensible to involve other people in the decision making process? It shouldn't be about involving everybody so everyone feels included, it should be focused on involving the right people at the right time for the right reasons to make the best decision possible. 

Sometimes people include others in making decisions to advocate responsibility just in case things go wrong. That's really not the way to go for you in terms of your personal growth and development, or for the organization collectively.

Decision Making - Protecting Yourself with 'Subject To'

How do you respond when you have to make a decision without having all the information to hand that you need? One way to tackle this whilst building a bit of a safety net in case things change is to make a decision subject to.

Subject to is a wonderful way to say 'I'll make a decision, I'll take responsibility for the decision, and this is my decision subject to (no new data being presented which may influence my decision)'. Using subject to helps you and your organization to be flexible enough in case information comes to light or the goal changes; helping you to reserve your credibility. 

Want to learn more? Take a look at our decision-making training course.