How To Make Better Decisions, Faster

Employees used to be hired to follow orders, not to take decisions. Nowadays, it is more likely that a leader is fired for avoiding making decisions than for taking risks to promote the company's growth.

However, being capable of taking decisions is not enough. In the highly dynamic world in which we live today, the only way we can meet our business objectives is by being able to quickly respond to competitive threats and new opportunities. Here are some tricks that will help you make better decisions, faster:

Have a clear and concrete goal

Setting short, medium, and long-term goals, allows you to connect the decisions you are taking every day, with their consequences in the future, more precisely, you will be able to understand how those decisions are helping you or not to reach your goals. Additionally, you will avoid wasting your time thinking about alternatives that do not steer you to fulfill your objectives.

Related: Are You S.M.A.R.T When Setting Goals?

Take decisions before you need to

Postponing a decision until the last minute only makes it harder. Moreover, the costs and risks incurred by companies when managers and employees take decisions late are higher. Perhaps one of the best approaches is anticipating the needs of the company and taking small daily decisions, rather than dilating a problem until it forces you to decide.

Related: Overcoming Procrastination & Getting Things Done

Focus on the strategy that you know can do the job

Studies have shown that people who work in emergency situations such as policemen, doctors, and firemen, do not take decisions by comparing alternatives or weighing pros and cons. They concentrate on the strategy they believe is best for getting the job done, in that particular situation. This approach helps them to act rather than to be paralyzed considering alternatives and consequences of their mistakes. Furthermore, we must be aware that we do not always have the material, financial or human resources to execute our ideal strategy. So we must make the best decision we can with the resources available.

Consider your alternatives

Studies have shown that thinking about the opposite of a decision helps us make better decisions. It forces us to be more rational and creative while allowing us to prepare to react to changes in the circumstances under which we decide.

Know your job and company

Preparation is essential to avoid insecurity in decision-making. Practice makes perfect, so if we practice how to react to certain situations, in the end, it becomes a mechanical process. That's why contingency plans help us to respond to change, anticipate it, and allow us to take decisions faster when everything changes.

Related: Why You Must Link Your Personal Goals With Your Business?

Always track your decision; if you were wrong admit it and move on

Some decisions are final and cannot be reversed. However, we can always do something to correct our mistakes and prevent further consequences. If there is evidence that things are not going as expected, you must be ready to take a different action plan. Great leaders know they can make mistakes and do not waste their or others people's time defending their decision. On the contrary, they admit them and start working immediately on a solution.