In my practice, I help clients make important career decisions. Effective decision-making skills are essential for career success. Yet, while many valuable life skills are taught in high school and college, teaching decision-making skills is often neglected. How many of us can say we’ve been taught decision-making principles and have been given tools and best practices as we were facing difficult life or career decisions?
Decision-making is a thriving area of research, and its concepts can be taught. But effective decision-making, like any other skill, requires active and continuous practice. We need to look at our own decision-making process, get familiar with our bias and fear, and learn from our experience to hone the skills and refine our process. We make hundreds of decisions each day. But when facing high stakes situations, making decisions is never easy. There are three key ingredients to decision-making: choices, possible consequences, and actions.
While there are no hard and fast rules for decision-making, the following 5 steps can provide an effective and timely decision-making process.
Step 1: Self-assessment – when you know something’s got to change and you need to make a decision.
Key question: What is not working well for me at work or in my life?
Step 2: Set your goal – reflect about the ideal future outcome.
Key question: How would I like the situation to be?
Step 3: Identify the alternatives – explore your options.
Key Question: What are my possible choices?
Step 4: Weigh your options – consider the consequences.
Key Question: What are the likely outcomes of each of the choices?
Step 5: Make a choice – commit to action.
Key Question: What SPECIFIC actions will I commit to?
Taking action is often the overlooked ingredient for professional and personal growth. If no new action is taken, a decision hasn’t really been made, and no significant change will occur. Progress is impossible without change.
Be sure to check out my next blogs for more on this topic.
