Every day in your
business, you are required to make decisions – some big and others not so big.
Decisions for example, like …..
Is your business growing
to a point where you should hire another staff member? ….. Another delivery was
late, should you change couriers or give this one another chance? …. Should you
increase your overdraft with the bank? …… Is it time to upgrade your old
computer? …… Should you be doing more with social media as part of your digital
marketing strategy? ….. Is your website due for a bit of a refresh or does it require some serious surgery in
order to rank better? …… Maybe there are different keywords that you should be
chasing? ……. Is there a new product that you need to add to your existing product mix for your
customers? ….. What should you have for lunch?
One thing’s for sure, a
business owner who doesn’t know how to make good decisions won’t be in business
for long!
Successful businesses are
run by people who make good decisions – and much more often than not, they can
tell you exactly the reasons why they did or didn’t make a particular
choice. So what are some of the most
common traps to avoid, to help you make better decisions?
Five deadly decision making traps
1. Making every
decision a big decision.
You’ve got to
recognise what are the trivial issues in your business that are simply not worthy of too much thought. Otherwise, you won’t have enough time to allocate to the more significant issues that have a greater impact on your
business - and which are therefore deserving of more thinking, research and
analysis
2. Relying upon hearsay or speculation.
The quality of your
decision will only be as good as the quality of the information that feeds into
it. So be careful of treating what others say as necessarily factual. Just
because someone tells you that a particular brand of business accounting
software is “useless” doesn’t mean that it is. What they might be really saying
to you is they never properly learned how to use it.
3. Allowing yourself to be rushed into a decision.
Just because
someone tells you they need a yes or no from you by the end of the day, doesn’t
mean that you have to accept their deadline. Who knows, maybe the timeframe is
negotiable? ….. But if you feel you’re being asked to make a major decision and
not being given enough time to think things through – then it could be the
other party is quite deliberately placing that time pressure upon you so as to
exclude critical analysis. Don’t be
afraid to say that you need more time to think about it, so you can make a measured
decision that will be right for you and your business.
4. Too much heart – and not enough head.
Allowing emotion to
rule you when you need to make a big decision is almost always a recipe for
disaster. If you’re angry for example, then you might tend to focus your
decision making on ways to “get even” with the other person – rather than the
best way of recovering from a situation that has caused you loss or pain. If
we’re feeling intense emotions – be it anger, fear or frustration – then we may
not be thinking clearly. We may be failing to see all of the options we have
available to us. So, if you’re in an emotional state, try stepping back and
taking a few deep breaths before you start deciding on a course of action.
There’s an old
saying “ Never make permanent decisions on feelings that may be temporary”. Try
to keep your focus on your ultimate goal – but try not to have so much tunnel
vision that you are neglecting to recognise the risks and alternatives
surrounding a given situation.
5. Asking the wrong people for advice.
Quite often when
you’re faced with having to make a big decision, you’ll turn to other people
for their guidance and suggestions. Of itself, this is OK – indeed, it can be a
wise thing to do. Seeking counsel from experienced, trusted business advisers can certainly help you. But too often business
owners are unknowingly asking the wrong people. They are seeking advice from
others who have a vested interest themselves in the outcome – and stand to gain
from a particular choice. There have been incidents when accountants for
example, have advised their clients to invest in particular properties, and
have been motivated more by the prospect of commissions rather than what is
really in the best interest of their client.
And one final tip in closing……
As far as possible, once
you’ve done all your research, and you’ve investigated all of your options, and
you’ve assessed the relative pros and cons of each option – and you’ve only made
your decision after having slept on it …… well then – it’s time to move into action
with confidence and determination.
Try to avoid
second-guessing yourself. Worrying about whether you’ve made the right decision
will serve no useful purpose. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t formulate a back-up plan. What it is saying, is that when you are implementing
your choice, you need to have conviction in your actions. Do not allow any
demons of self-doubt to feed inertia within you. Do not allow the fear of
making a wrong decision to paralyse you. OK, sometimes you’ll make a wrong
call – just make sure that you learn from it and get better for next time!
You might also like to
have a look at the Harvard Business Review article on decision making tips
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