|
|
What strategies should I use to analyze and make decisions?
Home » Executive Coaching » Decision Making » What strategies should I use to analyze and make decisions?What strategies should I use to analyze and make decisions?
According to a recent study by an Ohio State University researcher, businesses usually make decisions using the methods that require the least deliberation. Ironically, however, these methods usually obtain the least success while the methods that utilize the most deliberation have the most success. Important decisions need to be handled with extreme care. There are several strategies that help to analyzing a decision:
1. Look at the proposed solution(s) from different perspectives: Don’t just consider how the decision affects you personally. How will this decision affect and be understood by co-workers, superiors, subordinates, the company as a whole, the community, the environment, your competitors?
2. Pros and Cons: This is a familiar but effective strategy. Write out the advantages and disadvantages for each option. Does option have especially many pros or especially few cons. You can also compare the importance of the factors you’ve listed. All pros and cons are not created equally.
3. Cost/Benefit: To the best of your ability, compare the costs and potential gain from a potential decision. Remember to include all costs and benefits—not solely the financial—and look at the decision from a long-term point of view as well as a short-term perspective.
4. Force Field Analysis: Is change even necessary? Compare the pressures for and against change.
As part of this analysis, focus on your goals and your values. We all make decisions based on priorities, on what is most important to our business or to us as individuals. This is where you ensure that you will make an ethical decision, by ruling out unethical options. If you value spending time with your family, make sure you include that in pros or cons of a possible decision. Your decisions will exhibit who you are and what you believe.
Related Decision Making Articles
- What is decision making?
- What strategies should I use to analyze and make decisions?
- What should I do in preparation for making a decision?
- What should I do after I make the decision?
- How can I improve my decision making? Why do people make wrong decisions?