DECISION MAKING FROM SIX UNIQUE ANGLES

DECISION MAKING FROM SIX UNIQUE ANGLES

By NICHOLAS C. HILL(FIC FInstLM)   

 

When it comes to decision making, most pragmatic professionals are inclined toward rationality and objectivity, those mental processing strategies that allot utmost importance to observable and measurable facts and data. Although this manner of thinking is oftentimes practical and reliable, it is nonetheless somewhat limited. After all, decision making is a complex process that can be arrived at from many different angles, and seen through several types of supplementary lenses.

 

Decision making is a vital component of self management training; just one of our leadership and management skills courses Birmingham, Exeter, London, Newcastle and Glasgow Manchester.

 

Here are six of these decision making lenses or faculties if you will, which each and every professional should consider.

 

• Data

Poring over recorded data is one of the most reliable means for arriving at a specific decision, especially those that require utmost impartiality. Using data as a supplement in decision making entails keen analysis and perception. It is not enough for one to gather all pertinent information related to a specific concern or issue, the more crucial part of the process is how these bits of information are understood, interpreted, and eventually employed.

 

 

• Intuition

Decision making should not always be treated as a mental exercise. There are specific situations that call for a more intuitive or emotional approach to the process. Using intuition as aid for decision making fosters understanding of not only the decision maker’s own motivations and perceptions, but those of his or her colleagues as well.

 

 

• Potentials

There are instances when the best way to approach decision making is to examine all advantages and benefits posed by each and every available option. This strategy is most recommended in practices wherein measurable potentials are required to support claims and arguments.

 

 

• Risks

One can always argue that optimism is key to success. It is understood that risk review and anticipation is just as imperative, especially when it comes to decision making. Determining possible risks should not be seen as a pessimistic stance but instead it should be regarded as proactive damage control.

 

 

• Creativity

Thinking outside the box may sound passé or clichéd to some, but there are times when it is the most practical approach in decision making. Creativity means being able to exhaust all possible ideas, without prejudice or discrimination. This process entails gathering of all potential solutions for the purpose of generating an exhaustive and expansive stock of possibilities. Eventually, all the generated ideas can be whittled down, until only the most probable, informed, and inspired ones remain.

 

 

• Control

Decision making should also be done with ample restraint. This means that although creativity, intuition, recorded data, risks, and potentials can be exhausted and taken advantage of, still there comes a point when the process should be handled with a sense of levelheadedness. As they say, it is quite precarious to go over one’s head, especially when making important decisions.

 

Of course, the above list offers only a theoretical point of view. To embed the skill, we recommend attending our management and leadership skills courses Manchester, Glasgow, Exeter, Newcastle, Birmingham or London.

 

Each person has an established way when it comes to decision making. Oftentimes, this sort of familiarity proves quite beneficial since repeated or chronic usage of any tool or practice oftentimes lead to mastery of such implement. Nonetheless, it is still advantageous to entertain and possibly employ other means or practices in doing a specific endeavor, decision making for instance, for growth starts in this act of experimentation or discovery.

 

 

Nicholas C. Hill is Managing Director and Principal Trainer for The Hill Consultancy Ltd, London, specialising in UK-wide public training courses in leadership and management development. Become a highly productive manager and influential leader today. Claim £100 off the list price on any two-day course. Promotional code: PASSION0213. Visit the website or call now to find out more or request a FREE consultation. T: 020 7993 9955 W: www.nicholashill.com