Leaders have many important responsibilities in any organisation. One of them is making decisions. There is no doubt that it is not always easy to know the best course of action, and sometimes leaders find themselves in a situation where they don’t have all the information they need. However, there are some strategies that can help them make better decisions when facing these challenges.
Here are four tips from experts on improving decision-making in your leadership team.
Table of Contents
Understand the Situation
The first step to a successful decision is to thoroughly understand the situation.
You must understand the goals you’re trying to achieve, and the more definite they are the better. Achieving these goals should be your team’s shared purpose, and where it is not, the reason for this also has to be understood.
Then you have to know what information you need before you can make that decision. You should also understand what has been done in the past and why it was successful or not. This will help you understand what the best course of action might be for future decisions.
Gather All Relevant Information
One of the outputs from the above process is a list of the information you will need before you can decide. The amount and the level of difficulty of actually collecting this data will vary greatly, and in some cases, it will simply not be possible to collect it all.
In many instances leaders have to make decisions without all the information that is really needed, thus they need all the help they can get in this difficult and vital area.
For example, if you were deciding whether or not to invest in a new product line, you would want to gather any data that related to the success or failure of similar products. This way, you can more accurately evaluate the potential success of your new product line before making a final decision. Without such data it can be hard to make an ‘informed’ decision.
What types of information might be important? It varies depending on the decision being made. For example, if you need to decide whether or not an employee should be promoted, you would want to gather input from multiple employees for their opinion on how they would handle the increased responsibilities (so called 360 degree reviews). Gathering this type of information can help any leader more accurately determine who is most qualified for promotion.
If you don’t have all the necessary information, it may be necessary to allow more time to gather it. The more information you have about your situation, the better decisions you can make. Talking with others and getting their input may also help you find a solution that benefits everyone involved.
Consider Multiple Options
One of the most important things to do when making decisions is to consider multiple options. You need to look at what you’ve done in the past and compare your decision with different alternatives. This will help you make a good decision.
Take, for example, a business owner who has two different marketing strategies: A and B. There are multiple options here. They could run both together or choose just one or the other. But which to choose? This is the sort of decision that leaders have to take all the time and it can’t be easy to always make the right ones.
In summary, it is always better to consider multiple options and weigh them against each other before making any decision.
Check Your Priorities
One of the most important things to do when making decisions is to check your priorities. When you know your true goals, it will be easier for you to make decisions that align with those goals.
If you want to make better decisions, ask yourself what you want and need out of this decision. If you’re trying to decide if it’s worth hiring someone new, for example, ask yourself what is the main goal of hiring that person? Do you need more help in the marketing department? Or is there a hole in your sales team? The more clarity on your goals, the easier it will be for you.
Conclusion
Your leadership team is the backbone of your business.
It’s important to work together to make decisions that will help the company grow.
To improve your decision-making process, you need to understand the situation, gather all relevant information, make an assessment, consider multiple options from a variety of angles, and check your priorities.
By following these expert tips, your team will be able to make more informed decisions for your business.
However, it has to be recognised that the more ‘practice’ a leader has, the better their decision making is liable to be. But how to get this practice without endangering the business? The answer is to use a company like Prendo. They can set up scenarios where your leadership team, and their staff are presented with ‘real life’ situations, situations where limited resources have to be deployed and decisions have to be made. However, as it is a simulation, there is never any damage done (except pride at times) and in every case, everyone (not just the leaders) will gain more knowledge about themselves, the way the team works and about the process of decision making.
For more information please see https://www.prendo.com/leadership-challenges/leading-complex-projects/
