Three common deterrents to clear decisions made by leadership are: doubt, fear and a lack of process
Good management is about making clear and timely decisions so that the business runs smoothly and profitably with as little disruption and drama as possible.
Making decisions as you work on your business is a thoughtful process. During that process, it’s natural for doubt to creep into your thinking because decisions — by definition — deal with the unknown, the future. Doubts are those nagging feelings of uncertainty, where you may question a belief or hesitate to act.
Is this the right decision?
Am I being too hasty?
Doubts make us uncomfortable and make us feel anxious about moving forward. They can either delay arriving at a decision or acting on it once it’s been made.
Many managers are afraid to make decisions
It can be difficult to make higher‐stakes or important decisions. This, too, is natural. But when the paralysis of analysis in trying to answer the question “what will happen if I’m wrong?” slips into the picture, decisions get put off or, worse, never made at all. The fear of failure or some unintended consequence slams the door on action.
A wise man once said, “We don’t make bad decisions; we just learn to make newer, better ones.” Refining our decision‐making is part of becoming a mature human as well as a sign of a more mature company.
Create a process
Some managers don’t make well thought out decisions because they have no structure for making them. There are lots of good books on decision making, and nearly all of them recommend establishing criteria and following a process. In other words, knowing or learning “how” to come to a decision is most of the struggle. These three simple steps will help:
1) Clearly identify the problem, challenge, or opportunity;
2) identify the possible actions to take (including desired results and potential risks); and
3) design a framework for taking responsibility for the actions (who, when, why).
This is not an easy process because many decisions (especially the ones with enterprise impact) are hard to make. To help you, we have created a worksheet with 12 basic questions to help guide the process when you are making a complex decision. Check our Resource Library to download your free copy of the worksheet.
Watch for Part Two of this idea in our next release. In the meantime, if you want to learn more, check out Navigate Academy Module 28: Decision-Making Process
