The Art of Decision Making
Throughout the course of a day we make thousand’s of decisions. Various sources estimate that an adult makes about 35,000 decisions every day (Sahakian and LaBuzetta, 2013). Each decision carries certain consequences, both good and bad, and many of these decisions are intuitive - using your “gut feeling”. The other way we make decisions is by reasoning - using facts and figures. This is what I want to talk about today - reasoning decision making.
Decision Making Process
The key to making good decisions is having a good decision making process. The key steps in making any major or significant decisions are:
Identify the decision you are trying to make - what exactly is the problem you are trying to solve or question you need answering.
Collect all the relevant information and data you need - the key here is relevant data. You can have too much data or not enough. The skill is to get the information or data that will be most important to you in making your decision.
Work out your options - identify the possible alternatives you have but make sure they are viable options to avoid wasting time.
List out all the advantages and disadvantages (the pros and cons) of each option and write them down - this is the most important step. This step should eliminate a number of the options and leave you with a small number to choose from.
MAKE a decision - take action.
It is important to reflect on your decisions - at an appropriate time. Reflection is not about making you feel good or bad about your decisions but to help you improve your decision making process. You will make good and bad decisions. Don’t beat yourself up about your bad decisions if you have followed your process. The key is to learn from your mistakes for next time.
Things to Avoid in Decision Making
Paralysis by analysis - when you can’t make a decision because you have too much data. Keep it relevant.
Procrastination - this normally happens when you haven’t done enough research on the data or options. It also can happen when you are avoiding making a difficult decision. MAKE the decision.
Avoid emotional attachment - easy to say but often difficult to do. Try to stick to the fact and figures.
Avoid conflicts of interest - if it ‘smells’ like a conflict then it probably is. Where there is a conflict, remove yourself from that decision - you will never regret it.
Too many people - decisions by committee are notoriously difficult. Sometimes a decision just needs to be made and someone must take that responsibility.
There is no such thing as perfect decision making. The key is to do your homework and make a decision. There are two famous quotes that sum up decision making:
Marie Beynon Ray said: “Indecision is fatal. It is better to make a wrong decision than build up a habit of indecision. If you’re wallowing in indecision, you certainty can’t act – and action is the basis of success.”
Richard Branson said “When has making the wrong decision worked out better than making no decision for you?
So go ahead and make that decision…..
James
Image Source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-05-brain-decisions.html