Thank Goodness It's Monday #420

HOW TO MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES

MORE OFTEN

You’re responsible for your decisions. It’s a significant part of why you’re paid for doing your job or are highly respected in your community at large.

The more responsibility you take on, and the more right decisions you make, the more you’re worth to any enterprise you’re actively involved in.

 

So, by now, an effective decision-making process has probably become second nature for you.

 

But how about the decision-making skills of the less-experienced folks around you?

In both the work-a-day world and in the bigger framework of life aren’t there promising individuals you would like to see learn and earn more responsibility and move up their ladders of success?

TGIM CHALLENGE: Step up and mentor them. Show them how to build their skills and make the right decisions more easily and more often.

It’s a fact: One reason “subordinates” can be reluctant to tackle a decision-making challenge is that they haven’t learned the often-invisible “best practice” techniques that you automatically apply.

Think about it: Making difficult choices is not something that necessarily comes up in the everyday routine. And when the need for quick and informed decision-making does arise, and others turn to you for your valued input, often there’s not the opportunity to patiently dissect and explain the process on the go.

 

So, if there’s a bit of a Dog Days of August slowdown in your circle of influence, maybe now is a good time to help others build skills.

As you reflect on your choice-weighing process and prepare to guide your future better decision makers -- and in doing so make them less reluctant and actually more helpful to you in your quest to progress – consider sharing these --

 

TGIM ACTION IDEAS: They’re four broadly described but proven-on-the-job strategies that improve the odds of making the right decision more often.

See how they align with your personal practices for sorting out which path to chose. Then, assuming they’re compatible with your way of getting to the right decision, mix in your own personal examples to make the correct course of action crystal clear.

Tell your future great decision makers:

 

#1: Use past errors. Treat past setbacks as the valuable learning experiences they are. Recall what led up to a faulty decision. Look for a pattern in the way you evaluate these situations. This way you’ll size things up better and learn how to prevent similar foul-ups in the future.

 

#2: Approach as an outsider. No doubt there are certain routine job duties you can do with your eyes closed. When it comes to decision making in an area where your comfort level is less, it pays to look at the situation without preconceived notions.

How to do it: For the moment, forget everything you know. View the problem as a detached observer, not as a business insider. What conclusions would you draw from the facts alone – without knowing the setup of the deal or the organization or the personalities involved? Decide on this basis and you’ll have a better chance of accurately judging what you’re up against.

#3: Get others involved. Others may see the challenge in a different light. To be sure you’re being objective ask them how they would handle things. Assuming it’s not a breach of confidentiality, ask the opinion of coworkers you respect. Ask family members or friends outside the circle of those with first-hand involvement.

What do they know? It may not matter. Even if it seems too “industry specific” or “inside baseball” for the uninitiated to understand, try it anyway. Trying to simplify your explanation for them may simplify your view and analysis of the problem.

 

#4: Trust your instincts. When all is said and done, go with your gut feeling about different choices that seem to have equal validity. As they used to say about multiple choice  tests, when you’re not sure of the correct answer and when the penalty for a wrong answers is equal to no answer, your informed first choice has the best chance of being right.

Finally: Still feeling reluctant?

Don’t! You’re getting to be the decision maker because someone believed that you were best qualified to make the call. So make it!

***

Good luck with your mentoring.

 

Hope you’re glad you chose to read this far. I appreciate it and I’m deciding to call this TGIM complete -- for now.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

 

P.S. “To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.” Nobel Peace Prize winner (2001) Kofi Annan shared that insight.