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TechnoratiHiding Behind Information
Many managers with exacting standards tend to crave unending stacks of data before rendering a decision. The more facts and figures they accumulate, the more they require before feeling ready to decide. Be willing to forge ahead when the results of the decision will be positive—even if they won’t be perfect.
The DNA of Good Decision-Making
Evidence - Specific facts that can be independently verified.
• Search for new information or insight which may affect the decision.
• Probe the basis of your belief. We make decisions based upon our assumptions, but those assumptions are oftentimes at variance with reality.
• Take a hard look at your areas of expertise, and honestly assess the boundaries of your knowledge. Watch for overconfidence in yourself and others when you venture outside those limits.
• Test your opinions by looking for information that challenges your beliefs rather than looking for information that supports your opinions.
Observation - Direct experience or understanding of an issue.
• Conceptualize. Before deciding, picture the expected outcomes of your decision and mentally track the ramifications of your chosen course of action.
• Search for examples. Locate organizations that have faced a similar decision. Evaluate their experiences to better prepare for your own decision.
• Do a test-run. When time allows, launch and assess a pilot project before fully committing yourself.
Feedback - Impressions gleaned from asking others for input about a decision.
The most effective decisions flow from your ability to ask the right person the right question at the right time.
As long as you know where to search for the relevant information - and can verify the accuracy of what you learn - you will be well positioned to see all sides of an issue and make a sensible judgment.
Managing Good Decisions
The first ingredient of success—making good decisions—has no real value without the second, which is practicing daily discipline. Look at our society. Everyone wants to be thin, but nobody wants to diet. Everyone wants to live long, but few will exercise. Everybody wants money, yet seldom will anyone budget or control their spending.
Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is usually painful. What we fail to understand is that there are two kinds of pain: the pain of self-discipline and the pain of regret. We avoid the pain of self-discipline because we confront it every day. Meanwhile, the pain of regret goes unnoticed for days, months, and years, but when it comes, it marks us with the profoundest disappointment.
Successful people conquer their feelings of instant gratification and form habits of daily discipline. They realize that the pain of self-discipline is momentary, while its payoff yields long-lasting rewards.
Good Decisions – Daily Discipline = A Plan without a Payoff
Daily Discipline – Good Decisions = Regimentation without Reward
Good Decisions + Daily Discipline = A Masterpiece of Potential
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Called the nation's foremost expert on leadership, John C. Maxwell is founder of The INJOY Group, a collection of three distinct companies that employ 200 people and provide resources and services that help people reach their personal and leadership potential. In addition to building a successful organization, John has authored more than thirty books, including the New York Times best sellers The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and Failing Forward.
