How Leaders Make Decisions
Gary Klein wrote in his book, Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions: "...
be skeptical of courses in formal methods of decision making.
They are teaching methods people seldom use.
" Thinking through this quote, I had to ask myself - how have I been taught to make decisions? And do I actually use them? If not - what am I doing and is it working? My initial answers included weighing options, defining criteria, and seeking out different ways to resolve the situation at hand.
I'd been taught to use fishtail diagrams, pro/con lists and decision trees, but when I considered how many decisions I make a day, and how often I use the techniques, I realized something was wrong.
It is generally impossible for me to always follow any formalized process for making decisions, given the limited time I normally have.
As much as I want to believe that all my decisions are carefully calculated and weighed, I have to admit - I have limited time and limited brain power, and not all decisions can be made equally well.
I find that I typically rely on four things: experience, intuition, other people and training.
Better decisions are made when I maximize those resources.
Unfortunately most of these are only gained through a person's years on this earth and the connections you make.
So here are some of my most important lessons to try and decrease your learning curve: - Be careful not to let your emotions cloud your judgment - We always have fears, desires and personal motivations, whether we want to acknowledge them or not.
I've found that writing down my thoughts on paper or a whiteboard allows me to more clearly see where I'm trying to clutter my logic and remove the emotional drive.
- Have courage - There is a big difference between knowing the right choice and making the right choice.
Always keep this in mind - making decisions is a courageous act.
The best decisions are often not the most popular; they will likely upset or disappoint somebody.
- Ask tough questions - Be direct and honest, and don't allow a good idea to hide behind the fear of hurting someone's feelings.
- Always consider the "do nothing" option - Sometimes I forget that a possible action to a problem is to do nothing about it - which sometimes ends up being the best option.
Remember that not every problem demands action and that sometimes it's better to cut your losses and move on.
- Don't complicate it -There's little sense in worrying about getting struck by lightning if you have a heart condition, eat poorly, and consider walking to the vending machine a form of exercise.
Focus on the problem at hand, not all the different scenarios that could spin out of it.
- Focus - Don't make a fancy excel spreadsheet with multi-colored tabs and formulas...
by doing this you are delaying focus on the problem and putting your attention on preparing to focus.
Take a deep breath and dig straight in with a simple pro / con list on paper or a whiteboard.
- Take time to reflect, but not too much time - Reflection is highly underrated as a decision-making tool.
Step back and allow all of the information you've been working with to sink in.
Often, real understanding only happens when we relax and allow our brains to process the information we've consumed.
I find doing something physical like going for a run or walk is the best way to allow my mind to relax.
It's also hard to beat a good night's sleep for clearing the mind.
But this is also a great way to excuse delaying making a decision.
If you have to spend more than 24-48 hours considering the options, the problem is too big.
Break it down into smaller chunks so you can really focus.
- Remember that some decisions have no winning choices - Everybody can tell stories of tough choices they had to make.
Sometimes there is no single right answer.
In fact, it's entirely possible that things may happen to make none of the available choices (or all of them) lead to success.
At some level, any tough decision comes down in the end to the person's judgment and courage to follow it through.
- Good decisions can have bad results - Simply because things didn't work out in a particular way doesn't mean you didn't make a good decision with the information you had at the time.
It is impossible to predict all the variables of life, and it is unfair to hold decision makers accountable for things they couldn't possibly have known or done anything about.
Blame should be wielded carefully.
- Let it go - Whatever your decision, don't reflect too long on it after it's been made.
You're spending valuable energy second guessing yourself, when you should be focusing on making the decided path come to fruition.
Believe in yourself and your team and just move forward - regardless of the outcome.
- Take time to evaluate your lessons learned - The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.
Pay attention to the outcome of your decisions and evaluate, with the help of others involved, if you could have done anything differently to improve the quality of the outcome.
Experience benefits only those who take the time to learn from it.
be skeptical of courses in formal methods of decision making.
They are teaching methods people seldom use.
" Thinking through this quote, I had to ask myself - how have I been taught to make decisions? And do I actually use them? If not - what am I doing and is it working? My initial answers included weighing options, defining criteria, and seeking out different ways to resolve the situation at hand.
I'd been taught to use fishtail diagrams, pro/con lists and decision trees, but when I considered how many decisions I make a day, and how often I use the techniques, I realized something was wrong.
It is generally impossible for me to always follow any formalized process for making decisions, given the limited time I normally have.
As much as I want to believe that all my decisions are carefully calculated and weighed, I have to admit - I have limited time and limited brain power, and not all decisions can be made equally well.
I find that I typically rely on four things: experience, intuition, other people and training.
Better decisions are made when I maximize those resources.
Unfortunately most of these are only gained through a person's years on this earth and the connections you make.
So here are some of my most important lessons to try and decrease your learning curve: - Be careful not to let your emotions cloud your judgment - We always have fears, desires and personal motivations, whether we want to acknowledge them or not.
I've found that writing down my thoughts on paper or a whiteboard allows me to more clearly see where I'm trying to clutter my logic and remove the emotional drive.
- Have courage - There is a big difference between knowing the right choice and making the right choice.
Always keep this in mind - making decisions is a courageous act.
The best decisions are often not the most popular; they will likely upset or disappoint somebody.
- Ask tough questions - Be direct and honest, and don't allow a good idea to hide behind the fear of hurting someone's feelings.
- Always consider the "do nothing" option - Sometimes I forget that a possible action to a problem is to do nothing about it - which sometimes ends up being the best option.
Remember that not every problem demands action and that sometimes it's better to cut your losses and move on.
- Don't complicate it -There's little sense in worrying about getting struck by lightning if you have a heart condition, eat poorly, and consider walking to the vending machine a form of exercise.
Focus on the problem at hand, not all the different scenarios that could spin out of it.
- Focus - Don't make a fancy excel spreadsheet with multi-colored tabs and formulas...
by doing this you are delaying focus on the problem and putting your attention on preparing to focus.
Take a deep breath and dig straight in with a simple pro / con list on paper or a whiteboard.
- Take time to reflect, but not too much time - Reflection is highly underrated as a decision-making tool.
Step back and allow all of the information you've been working with to sink in.
Often, real understanding only happens when we relax and allow our brains to process the information we've consumed.
I find doing something physical like going for a run or walk is the best way to allow my mind to relax.
It's also hard to beat a good night's sleep for clearing the mind.
But this is also a great way to excuse delaying making a decision.
If you have to spend more than 24-48 hours considering the options, the problem is too big.
Break it down into smaller chunks so you can really focus.
- Remember that some decisions have no winning choices - Everybody can tell stories of tough choices they had to make.
Sometimes there is no single right answer.
In fact, it's entirely possible that things may happen to make none of the available choices (or all of them) lead to success.
At some level, any tough decision comes down in the end to the person's judgment and courage to follow it through.
- Good decisions can have bad results - Simply because things didn't work out in a particular way doesn't mean you didn't make a good decision with the information you had at the time.
It is impossible to predict all the variables of life, and it is unfair to hold decision makers accountable for things they couldn't possibly have known or done anything about.
Blame should be wielded carefully.
- Let it go - Whatever your decision, don't reflect too long on it after it's been made.
You're spending valuable energy second guessing yourself, when you should be focusing on making the decided path come to fruition.
Believe in yourself and your team and just move forward - regardless of the outcome.
- Take time to evaluate your lessons learned - The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.
Pay attention to the outcome of your decisions and evaluate, with the help of others involved, if you could have done anything differently to improve the quality of the outcome.
Experience benefits only those who take the time to learn from it.
