In this article we look at several decision making skills
Are you good at making decisions? The skill may be natural for some people, but for others it is a struggle to make even the most basic decisions. While personality types can play a role in someone’s ability to make decisions, it’s also a skill that can be learned.
One reason people don’t like to make decisions is they don’t want to be held responsible for the outcomes. This reluctance is a defence mechanism as others may criticise you if you don’t choose wisely. It could erode the confidence others have in you regarding your ability to make decisions. However, you can take steps to reduce it from happening.
One of the main factors in decision making is confidence. Therefore, building confidence will help you make decisions. Others will also follow your lead as they will respect your confidence. When you make decisions with confidence, they have no choice but to recognise your authority. Click this link for more articles on this topic.
Decision Making Skills: Find The Right Information
Decision making requires finding out the right information. You won’t get far if you start making decisions without information to back them. It's necessary to be informed when making your decisions which means you have a bit of detective work to do. You have to get as many of the facts as you can before making most decisions.
Often, you won’t get all the facts you need for one reason or another. In this case, you will need to take a leap of faith and rely on your confidence when making decisions. That’s an unfortunate part of the process and one that makes people choose wrong directions sometimes. But, as long as you decide using the information you have available, you can defend your choice.
As part of the decision-making process, consider coming up with alternatives. List out all possible alternatives based on the current information. You can rate the alternatives on a scale of your choosing. This rating can help you when making the decision. You can choose a star-rating system or a percentage system (0-100), etc.
Decision Making Skills: List The Pros and Cons
Another technique people like to use is to list out the pros and the cons. To do this, take out a blank piece of paper and write a dividing line in the centre. Create the heading “Pros” on the left, and “Cons” on the right. Then, list out the pros and the cons. You can use this to guide you with your decision. Try not to make this process too mechanical as the list may contain several subjective items.
Decision Making Skills: Wrapping Up
Finally, here are some questions to ask yourself
- Do I want to be, do or have this?
- Will being, doing or having this move me in the direction of my goal or ideal?
- Is being, doing or having this in harmony with the laws of the universe (according to your belief system)
- Will being, doing or having this violate the rights of others?
If you can answer 'yes' to the first 3 and 'no' to the last, then make the decision.
“When I’ve gathered enough information to make a decision,
I don’t take a vote, I make a decision.”
- Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States
Previous Article in this series: What Is A Decision?