Many of my clients are faced with challenging decisions every day and the first place they jump to is making the decision. Many of them do not take the extra step of first figuring out “how to decide.”
Let’s say you are going to buy a car. Do you walk into a showroom, pick a car, and drive out of the lot? No, of course you don’t. You typically would check with other owners of the car you like, investigate research on the car in magazines like Consumer Reports, look at the car at multiple lots, and read online reviews. In other words, you are taking time to decide how you decide, before making the decision.
Leaders would benefit from this behavior a great deal. Next time you are faced with a decision, take a few moments to decide how you will decide, before you make a decision.
Some things you might do include –
- Speaking with a colleague for her thoughts and insights. Colleagues are the most underused resource in an organization!
- Find a colleague who had a similar situation and discuss the decision your colleague made.
- Find an article that discusses your situation in greater detail. Sometimes an article may not be available, yet a book might. Either resource can be a great help to you.
- Speak with other stakeholders to gain additional insights and ideas.
Take time to decide how you are going to decide, before you make a decision. This should make all of your decisions better and easier to make.
