Is your decision-making (or lack thereof) impeding your progress?

Small Business

Feb. 5

Written By Ariana Elsie McNally

Do you struggle with decision-making when it comes to growing your business?

Are you holding back from making a decision in your business right now?

The price of NOT making a decision can be time, energy drain, taking up mental space and…missed opportunities.

Is this something you struggle with, or have struggled with?

If so, here are some questions that could help:

Which part of you is invested in this decision? What is your mind saying? And what is your intuition or heart saying? (Your gut feeling…as some may call it.)
- There’s benefit here to checking in with both parts. If your brain has been ruminating, what does your heart or gut say? If your emotions are involved - what are they telling you?
Is fear involved?

If you consider why you might be struggling with a decision, asking these questions can help you get unstuck and into forward motion.

And while fear can be informative, it shouldn’t be in the driver’s seat when making strategic decisions in your business.

This may be enough for many, but if you feel a framework would be helpful, Professor Kristina Guo designed the DECIDE framework, which I’ll share here.

Consider this process:

Define - Take a step back and determine if you truly understand the problem. How would you define the problem? What will this decision solve?
Establish the criteria. - List all the factors you want to consider in making a decision.
Consider the alternatives. - What are the alternatives you are considering? Note: Too much time considering all the alternatives can lead to overthinking and analysis paralysis. Having a few solid alternatives is generally sufficient.
Identify the best alternative. - Apply your criteria from the second step to each of the alternatives/options. Based on this, you’ll notice that one alternative may emerge that makes the most sense based on your criteria.
Develop and implement a plan of action. - Time to act on that decision. One risk, once the decision has been made, is to go back a few steps and repeat. This is where progress can be delayed. Make the decision and implement it. A decision is only as good as its implementation.
Evaluate the solution. - To make better and better decisions over time, review the outcomes and the feedback you get. This will help you enhance your proficiency.

If you find you’re hindered in making decisions, applying a discipline to it could be helpful. Whether it’s asking thoughtful questions as in the beginning or using a framework similar to above, this can save time, and help you build confidence your own decision-making.

I’m curious, what’s the best advice you ever received about making decisions?

What works best for you?

NOW is YOUR time,

Ariana

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