Have you ever wondered why certain business owners and entrepreneurs tend to consistently make good choices, while others frequently find themselves in precarious situations? In many cases, it comes down to how you make decisions.
Decisiveness vs. Indecision
When you study the western world – particularly the United States – there’s an overwhelming belief that decisiveness is good and indecision is bad. Decisive people are viewed as powerful, transparent, honest, and confident, whereas indecisive people are deemed lazy, unethical, weak, and timid.
What’s interesting, though, is that this affinity for decisiveness is largely cultural. As Global Cognition explains, Japanese culture actually prefers indecision. Instead of being viewed as “wishy-washy” when you can’t make a decision right away, the Japanese view you as poised, analytical, and pragmatic.
When you begin to view decision-making through a different lens, it becomes apparent that the goal of making better decisions has less to do with decisiveness and more to do with how you come to the conclusions you make.
4 Decision Making Tips
If you’re genuinely interested in making better business decisions – not just quicker ones – the following tips will lead to noticeable improvement.
- Be Proactive
A decision is typically related to one of two things: a problem or an opportunity. When a decision is based on a problem, business owners frequently make the mistake of responding reactively, instead of adopting a proactive mindset.
The best thing you can do when confronted with an issue is to be proactive. This allows you to get ahead of the problem and implement the strategy you want to use, rather than falling behind and getting forced into a corner.
- Break Challenges Down Into Steps
Important business decisions generally feel more challenging than they are. That’s because business owners tend to look at challenges as one big issue, leaving them feeling overwhelmed and helpless.
In an effort to simplify the decision-making process, always look for ways to break a big challenge up into smaller parts. This makes it more digestible and easy to process from a strategic point of view.
- Identify Risks and Rewards
One of the classic methods of making a decision involves drawing two columns and listing the risks and rewards. While this may seem rudimentary, it usually creates some clarity – especially for visual thinkers.
It’s easy to make a decision with the belief that you’ll be successful, but it’s imperative that you have contingencies in place for what you’ll do if you make the wrong choice.
Consultant Bruna Martinuzzi always thinks about reversibility. “Can you reverse the decision if things don’t turn out well after you make your decision? And what about having a mitigation strategy in place? This means having a plan for minimizing the impact of the decision if a downside occurs,” she explains.
- Welcome Feedback
There’s something to be said for blocking out the noise and focusing your energy and effort on making the right decision, but it would be foolish to totally insulate yourself from the wisdom of your business partners, advisors, and peers.
When you find yourself with a particularly challenging decision, welcome the feedback of others. This isn’t sign of weakness. In fact, it’s a sign of wisdom and humility.
Put Your Business on the Right Path
In order to guide your business forward, you have to provide confident leadership that your team can depend on. While it’s easy to get caught in the line of thinking that decisiveness is the most important attribute, the reality is that everyone processes information differently.
Focus on making better decisions – not quicker ones – and you’ll be okay.
