Decisions: How Close Are You To A 100% Strike Rate?
Managers, team leaders and their staff can take as many as a
hundred or more decisions in the course of a day, each day and
every day. Many of these decisions are, of course, no more than
automatic responses to familiar situations in which they have to
choose between two or three options. However, from time to time,
we all have to take decisions on which the course of our future
and that of others depends. Then, it is a question of making
sure they are right. Here are 6 principles to guide you in right
decision-making.
1. Time Them. There are two traps which people fall into when
making decisions: making them too soon and making them too late.
Some people make decisions too swiftly and without due thought.
This may be because they are uncomfortable with the tension that
is created when a decision has to be made but they don't have
all the information needed. Instead of living with tension, they
make the decision before time. Other people delay making
decisions because they fear making a mistake or fear the changes
that will result. The best decisions are hot-iron decisions:
those that are well-timed, which you make when the iron is hot
and the time is right.
2. Align Them. The more decisions you make consciously, the more
you can align them with your goals and purposes. Studies show
that the average person makes 612 decisions a day. Each one
takes us closer or further from our ultimate goals in life. In a
week, that means 4,900 decisions. In a year, 254,800. Results
are cumulative. Strategic thinking means looking at how your
decisions today affect your tomorrows. When your decisions are
in alignment with what's important to you, then life becomes
meaningful, productive and delightful.
3. Balance Them. There are three balancing acts to be aware of
in taking a good decision. They are: * Care and not care. Do all
your worrying before the decision and once a decision has been
taken, stop worrying. * Think and act. Too much thinking puts
off the action; too much action may be at the expense of
thought. Seek the right balance. * Look before you leap and leap
before you look. See the possible risks of your decision but,
once decided, take the plunge with courage.
4. Act When You Have To. You should only make decisions when you
have to. Here are five "don'ts" to guide you. * DON'T make a
decision unless you have two or more equally valid options. *
DON'T make a decision if it's somebody else's responsibility. *
DON'T make a decision unless there is disagreement. * DON'T make
a decision about irrelevant matters. * DON'T make a decision if
it can't be turned into action. "If there's one thing I've
learned in politics, it is: never make a decision until you have
to." (Margaret Thatcher)
5. Don't Decide Without Acting. Eric Aronson tells this riddle:
If 5 birds are sitting on a wire and one of them decides to fly
away, how many are left? The answer is five. One bird's decision
to fly away does not mean it did! Theodore Roosevelt said that
the worst thing you could do when you have to make a decision is
to do nothing. Even if you make a wrong decision, the very
making of it and the learning from it are steps forward. As
Frederick Langbridge added, "If you don't follow through on a
decision, someone else will pick it up and use it. When you make
a decision, jump in with both feet, don't just stick your toe in
the water. Be daring, be fearless, and don't be afraid that
somebody is going to criticize you or laugh at you. If your ego
is not involved, no one can hurt you."
6. Keep Your Decision Under Review. Decisions are a mix of what
we currently want (goals); what we currently know (information);
what we believe (outcomes); and what we can do (actions). There
is no guarantee that any of these will stay the same or that
they will come right. No decision is perfect. This is because...
* half-way through the implementation of a decision we may
realise we don't want to achieve the goal after all. * after
taking a decision, we may stumble across more information which,
had we had it before, would have totally changed our decision. *
since outcomes depend on an educated guess about the future, we
might guess wrong. * a successful decision depends as much on
motivation and skill in implementation as on getting it right.
Nobody who regularly makes important decisions affecting the
lives of others will tell you hand on heart that they get it
right every time. Decision-taking is more of an art than a
science. But practice, and learning from our results, may at
least take us closer down the road to a 100% strike rate.