Making decisions can be incredibly tough, especially those in business or in high pressure situations. You might find yourself in a situation where a decision has to be made and you have no one else to turn to. Maybe you are a business owner, or a manager in a company who is responsible for a project. The weight of responsibility can weigh heavily on one’s shoulders and the potential fallout from a bad decision can increase the pressure you place on yourself. This is especially poignant when you feel out of your depth. According to A lack of information will always result in uncertainty and uncertainty will always make you indecisive. As such, you should always (where you can) make an informed decision. So how do you go about making informed decisions? Click here to know more.
Gather Information
Knowledge is power and this is never so true as when you are looking to make decisions. In order to make a more informed choice you need to take steps to gather as much information as possible. In business this can be achieved through a number of channels. IF you are a project manager then it is your responsibility to set up adequate processes so that the people that you are responsible for organising are passing you the correct information so that you can compile the various ‘reports’ and thus have a more comprehensive view of the project as a whole. You may also be making the hard decision to push a new product into a new market – so get some market research done. There are numerous market research companies that specialise in various forms of data capture so do some investigating. This data will give you the ability to make a decision whether a new product will be successful, or the market’s view on a current product!
Compare and Contrast
Explore as many avenues as possible. Take into account all the possibilities so that you can compare and contrast. You can always draw up the classic pros and cons table which might help you visualise the various options available to you.
Take Your Time (when possible)
If you have the time to sleep on it, then do so. I cannot stress how important this is. And to trust your gut. Let me be very clear, there is a very distinct difference between trusting your gut and making a knee jerk decision. This is why taking your time when making a decision can often reduce the amount of bad decisions that you make. Take everything into consideration, ask your family, friends or colleagues about their opinions, then if you still feel the same way then go for it.
Finally, if you make an important decision then it has to be done wholeheartedly. Once you have made a decision, 99% of the time you need to stick to it and make the most of it. There will always be people who think differently, but if you trust your gut it usually works out.
