10 Tips to World-Class Decision Making
As a leader in your company, you want to be a world-class decision maker — but are you? Are you calm and poised in high-stress, high-stakes situations when it’s time to make major decisions?
Have emotions ever clouded your reason? Have you regretted not trusting your gut feeling when you had a hunch?
It’s no secret that business leaders have to make several key decisions during their careers. Some are “no brainers,” and others are monumental, possibly serving as real game-changers for your company and maybe even your life. That could include critical choices regarding investments, prospects, opportunities for growth, how to handle certain risks, and so much more.
These and other choices can become even more challenging to navigate when you have to consult with other colleagues, clients, vendors, or partners in the decision-making process.
Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to quiet the distractions, stay focused on what really matters, and hone your decision-making skills so they can be sharper than ever.
How to Improve Your Decision-Making Skills: 10 Essential Tips
Leaders across any industry can make superior decisions under extreme pressure using these proven tips for success.
1. Keep it simple.
Know the goal. See the desired outcome. Identify the challenge.
Then, swiftly decide your next move, even if that’s a strategic move to not do anything at all.
2. Consider if the decision needs to be made.
Some decisions DO NOT need to be made because, sometimes, things work themselves out before decision time even arrives. In other cases, circumstances may change, and the choice you thought was in front of you could disappear, with an entirely new decision standing before you.
The point is to consider whether or not you should invest time and energy into a given choice — or whether you’re better off biding your time to see how things play out.
3. Use the B2A Principle.
We have been trained to go from A to B. The world’s best decision makers envision their future from a B to A perspective.
Example: Let’s say you want to gross $50,000 dollars in the next month. What has to happen on day 30, day 29, day 28, day 27, and then counting down all the way until day 1?
This will illuminate a pathway, like a runway at the airport at night so you can start taking steps forward and making it your new reality.
By reverse engineering your vision from well-defined due dates, you advance, make progress, and more readily finish the project, putting you well on your way to being a world-class decision maker (or to becoming an even better one!).
4. Use aftermath Visualization.
Before the decision has been made, see the changes and impacts this choice will have on your company. Visualize the impact this decision will have both in the short-term and long-term.
5. Assess the risk and reward.
Most major decisions typically have major risks and rewards. So, you need to ask yourself and answer:
What are the risks? Map out each risk and think about whether those risks could be offset.
What are the rewards? Are they on par with the level of risk you could be taking on?
Or do the potential rewards outweigh the potential risks?
Weigh the risk(s), offset(s), and the reward(s) together.
Then, decide based on:
- Your risk appetite
- The degree of the reward
- The best-case versus worst-case scenario
6. Make swift decisions.
The majority of decisions in life, business and sports can be made in less than 90 seconds. All of my 90-Second Rule™ tools and techniques have a maximum cap of 90 seconds. In fact, some tools can work in five seconds. Remember, less is more.
7. Get all of the facts.
Like a judge in a courtroom, walk 360º around the challenge. In order to make the right decisions in life, we must not only look from another person’s position, but we must also:
- Feel the emotion that person experiences.
- Mentally walk in their shoes.
- Look through the eyes of all parties to get a better understanding of each viewpoint.
- Try to sense their patience or impatience, their trust or lack of trust, their belief or disbelief, comfort, and any worry and/or anxiety they may be emitting.
- Listen to their words and observe how they express those words.
- Take in their body language, tones, and inflections.
After gathering that information, take a moment to consider it in the bigger picture, altogether. Then, trust your gut and let your inner wisdom take over.
8. Sleep on it.
If the decision is major and time is on your side, sleep on the challenge.
Mentally seek solutions to the challenge while in a semi-drowsy state.
State the challenge.
Then, ask yourself, “What is the solution?” before you drift off to sleep.
The solution could just appear and be far more clear in your mind’s eye as you awaken.
9. Trust your intuition.
If sleeping on the challenge is not a luxury, utilize your greatest gift of intuition. Intuition is controlled by your subconscious mind. It has real-time information that your conscious mind does not possess.
After weighing all the facts and role-playing the situation, listen to your intuitive sixth sense. It has an uncanny way of knowing. So, don’t ignore your gut.
10. Level up.
Keep your eyes open to new opportunities to learn and level up your decision-making strategies. Exceptional leaders keep reaching and never settle on where they’re at.
If you’re a leader looking for that next step to be an extraordinary decision-maker, it is possible to:
- Dial into the right mindset to maximize profits.
- Develop unwavering confidence & unbreakable self-assurance.
- STOP losing sleep over stress, missed opportunities, and inconsistent performance.
- MAXIMIZE Your Profits in 90 Seconds.
To start changing how you perform and make decisions in high-stakes scenarios, participate in an exclusive, transformative one-day program designed to empower champion business. Click on the image above or click here to learn more and reserve your spot now.