A decision is a choice between alternatives, each of which is projected to have a different outcome. It’s a sequential process. When you have a decision to make, ask yourself a question about how you want to act, and then decide on the course of action. This article explains 5 steps you can take to improve your decision-making skills.
What you’ll learn:
- How to improve your decision-making skills
- 5 steps to make better and faster decisions
Table of Contents
Content Summary
Decide which decision you can delegate
Seek perspective
Try opposing yourself
Think through scenarios
Stay objective
Summary
Having good decision-making skills is important in choosing rational steps that can affect your work. Now, better decisions are made from data and research. While some decisions do not require extensive information, knowing how to make better choices can improve your work-life.
This article will touch on 5 steps that will improve your daily life, such as seeking perspective from others and determining if some decisions can be handled by others.
This five steps process can help improve your daily decision-making process.
Decide which decision you can delegate
Do you have to make every decision?
Start by determining which decisions can be passed to someone else.
This allows you to free up your time to focus on bigger, more important tasks. There are many situations where you can delegate a decision to someone else. The best way to get started delegating is to ask yourself the following questions:
- What can I outsource?
- Who can I delegate to?
- What is the best time to delegate?
- Is someone else better qualified?
- Can they do it faster or more efficiently?
- Are they more knowledgeable?
- What is the best way to delegate?
These will help you get started.
Seek perspective
Sometimes, bouncing your ideas off others can help shed new perspectives and ideas. Try using different people for different decisions, instead of always using the same people. It’s easier for other people to see the issues and opportunities if they come from outside of the team.
If you are under pressure to make a decision, it might be because you don’t have enough information in front of you. You might be missing the big picture. Gather as much information as you can before you make a decision. You might be overwhelmed with the amount of work that is required to make the decision. Break it down into manageable parts and decide on the first step.
As you take that step, you will gain momentum and you will be able to see the other steps more clearly. As you go through the analysis, you may find that you aren’t getting the information you need in order to make the decision.
Try opposing yourself
It’s not always easy, but try challenging and opposing your decisions in your own head and asking difficult questions. Think about whether you really want to do it, why you want to do it, and whether there might be an alternative. It’s not always easy to do this, but it can be a great way to gain some perspective.
Think through scenarios
Before making a decision, thinking through scenarios from various angles to see how different outcomes may affect your decisions. Writing down the scenarios can help you find the possible consequences of your decision. You can then think about which ones are important to you, and use them to decide what to do. It also helps you make a decision in a more informed way.
Stay objective
Once the decision is made, stay objective in evaluating the result, and be honest with yourself about what worked and what didn’t—or what you can do better next time. Be sure to learn from your experience so you can grow from it.
Summary
So in summary, decide what you can delegate, seek perspective, oppose yourself, think through scenarios, and stay objective. Try these steps and watch your decision-making skills take off.