Believe it or not, you may be making around 35,000 decisions each day. Whether figuring out what to have for lunch or which direction you want your business to move in, you’re constantly making choices. Unfortunately, repeatedly making even the smallest choices every day can result in decision fatigue. Here are three ways you can make better decisions that lead you to success.
Design a Process
According to a study by McKinsey Quarterly, having a decision-making process is six times more effective than having a decision-making analysis. The survey covered more than 2,200 major business decisions executives made over five years through analysis. Results showed 28 percent of respondents felt they generally made good decisions, 60 percent believed they made good and bad decisions with equal frequency, and 12 percent felt they frequently made bad decisions. Based on these results, strong analysis by managers with good judgement doesn’t always produce quality decisions. When you have to make a decision (especially an important one), consider your process and stick to it. Taking the time to design an effective process will go a long way when you need to make a decision. If emotion is involved, the process should do its part to keep emotions out of the final decision.
Make Hard Decisions First
Before you go to sleep at night, think about your priorities for the next day and make a plan for tackling harder decisions before easier ones. For example, you may plan on choosing which candidate you’ll hire for an open role and what your next meeting topic will be before deciding which performance review you’ll complete first and when you’ll respond to phone calls. By completing more complex tasks first, you’ll have greater brainpower for thinking clearly and making good decisions. When you are making those decisions, stay focused on the task at hand and don’t multitask. You might feel more productive when trying to accomplish three things at once and bouncing back and forth between each decision, but your attention will be spread out and you could lead to three bad results.
Get Support
Surround yourself with a team that can make smaller decisions for you and provide input for making larger decisions. For example, you may have an assistant take care of decisions that have a lesser impact on your business. Also, you may have company executives, a business coach, or a mentor help you decide what direction the company should move in and what steps you may take to reach your business goals. Enlisting the help of professionals will most likely cost less in the long run than making all decisions on your own with a greater potential for undesirable results. If you have problems delegating to others, teach them how to make decisions. Train them and after a couple of times where you walk through the situation together, let them go and trust their abilities. Everyone will benefit from that freedom.
Work with a Top Staffing Agency in Atlanta
We can help you lessen decision fatigue by sending you qualified candidates for your open office, HR, or accounting positions. Contact the staffing professionals at Employ Partners today!
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