3 Keys to Making Better Decisions at Work

Making Better Decisions in General
We all make multiple decisions every day. Some decisions, like buying a new house, are complex and require careful consideration.  While other decisions like what to wear can affect our self-esteem and confidence, they are relatively simple and have comparatively lower stakes. Whatever the decision, the better the quality of your decision making process, the better the chances that good things will happen in your future.   The same is true about making better decisions at work.

Making Better Decisions at Work
We know from organizational culture assessment data that high quality decision making at work can affect performance, engagement, and career advancement. We know from decision making training data that better decisions at work are often grounded in core values and aligned with overall corporate strategies. And we know from leadership simulation assessment data that leaders need to make better decisions, faster.

Here are three keys than can help you make better decisions at work:

1. Invest the Time to Create Context and Clarity Upfront
   We know from our organizational alignment research that strategic clarity accounts for 31% of difference between high and low performance in terms of revenue growth, profitability, customer loyalty, leadership effectiveness, and employee engagement.  To make better decisions at work, leaders must be very clear about the decision they are trying to make, the stakes, and the specific outcomes they are trying to achieve.

   Sadly, the majority of decision making conversations begin without having understanding and full commitment to decision making goals, roles, processes, criteria, stakeholders, and success metrics.

   Are decision making parameters clear enough?

2. Agree Upon Potential Upsides and Downsides
   Complex, important decisions challenge even the most careful and thoughtful evaluation. There are typically risks and rewards on both sides of high stakes decisions. Some risks are worth the rewards, while others may not be worth the strategic, cultural, people, technical, political, customer, business, safety, or environmental risks.

   When making a decision, have the team identify and rank the most likely risks and rewards to ensure that the potential upside outweighs the risk of the potential downside. Use something as simple as:

   – NO, we agree that this choice is clearly not worth it
   – HOLD, we agree to gather more data before deciding
   – YES, we agree that this choice is clearly worthwhile

   Does everyone agree on the probabilities for success and failure?

3. Create a Plan to Maximize Upsides and Minimize Downsides
   Most decision outcomes are not 100% certain. Part of a good decision making process is proactively focusing on what you have control over to maximize your chances for success.  This requires investing in the strategies, structures, processes, business practices, technologies, relationships, skills, knowledge, mindsets, and behaviors necessary for the best chances of success.

   Do you have a plan that makes sense?

The Bottom Line
Ultimately, decisions at work are calculated, educated guesses. By defining a goal, assessing the risks, and predicting the likelihood of success, you will be on the way to consistently making better work decisions.

To learn more about how to make better decisions at work, download Top 5 Decision-Making Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs