Have you ever struggled to make a decision? Have you been in a situation where there is more than 1 option, knowing that a course of action needs to be taken, and yet cannot determine which way to go, or worse still, you fail to make a decision at all? I have, and as I reflect back on my life and the decisions I have made, I recognise the number of times where I have been faced with either a challenge or an opportunity, and for whatever reason, I either made a poor decision or no decision at all, resulting in missed opportunities in my career, business or relationships. And it got me thinking – how do successful people make decisions? Is there a specific strategy that they employ that maximises their chances of success? What separates the people who seem to always have the golden touch, from those who don’t seem to have the success they are looking for? This lead me on a quest to understand what sets apart successful people and the not so successful in terms of decision making. What I discovered was 4 key decision making strategies, that when implemented, resulted in strong committed decisions, and significantly improved outcomes:
Decision Making Strategy #1: “The Richard Branson Effect” – Richard Branson is widely recognised as a super successful global entrepreneur, the owner and builder of many successful brands and businesses, and often viewed as a massive ‘risk taker’. In looking at what Branson has achieved over the years, it could be interpreted that he appeared to often be in the right place at the right time, that he was ‘lucky’, or that he took huge risks and gambled on the roll of a dice, in order to achieve his success. The truth is that he employs a very sound decision making strategy. In fact, a few years ago he was interviewed by a young journalist, who asked Branson “in order to have achieved your massive success in business, you must have taken a lot of risks? How did you do that”, to which Branson replied that in his mind he had not actually taken any risk at all. The young journalist was bemused at this response, so Branson elaborated – “when assessing any opportunity I ask myself 2 very simple but powerful questions: 1) ‘what is the worst possible scenario that could occur if I decide to move forward on this opportunity? And 2) if the worst possible scenario happens, can I handle it? If the answer to the second question is yes, then the decision is made and I proceed full steam ahead – and to me that removes the risk. This has become known as “The Richard Branson Effect”.
Decision Making Strategy #2: Remove the emotion – after employing decision making strategy #1 and deciding that you can handle the worst possible scenario, make the decision to move forward regardless of how you feel. One of the most important success principles in business and in life is to know your outcome, to be very clear on what you are shooting for, and successful people make their decisions with the outcome very firmly in their mind. They do not make their decisions based on how they feel; they make their decisions purely based on whether that decision will lead them to their desired outcome. There will be times when you are faced with a decision that has to be made, and the natural thing to do is ‘go with your gut’, to trust your feelings in order to make the ‘right’ decision. This is often an unconscious reaction designed to keep you safe, to keep you in a position of familiarity & comfort, rather than embracing the uncertainty of moving forward into unexplored territory. Instead of ‘trusting your gut’, trust your goal, trust your vision, trust your outcome, because highly successful people acknowledge the feeling, but they have the ability to remove the emotion and make the decision with their head.
Decision Making Strategy #3: Fast decisions – it has often been quoted that successful people make decisions quickly and change their mind slowly, whilst unsuccessful people make their decisions slowly and change their mind quickly. In other words, when a successful person has a definitive outcome in mind, the decision to move forward is made quickly and they very rarely, if ever, change that decision, because they know that the only way that the successful outcome will elude them is if they stop moving and give up. Successful people also form the habit of making more decisions more often, based on clearly defined outcomes, which ultimately leads them to be more successful. How many successful people do you know that run multiple businesses or have a very successful career and seem to be able to achieve extraordinary things over and over again? Take a very close look at their decision making strategy and you will often find that they are an expert at implementing quick decisions on a regular basis.
Decision Making Strategy #4 – Successful people do not wait to have 100% of the information before making a decision. In fact, British Canadian journalist and bestselling author, Malcolm Gladwell, found that highly successful people only need between 50%-70% of the facts in order to make a decision. They recognise that they do not need to capture all information in order to make a positive decision to move forward : that if they are very clear on their outcome, if they can handle the worst possible scenario, they will make the decision fast and give it everything they’ve got.
Are you achieving the level of success you are looking for? Do you have a strategy that you implement around making decisions? Do you tend to make decisions based on how you feel, rather than on clearly defined desired outcomes? Do you find yourself changing your mind on a regular basis and wonder why you are not moving forward as quickly as you would like? If you are not happy with your current results, have a very close look at what decision making strategy you are employing, and put the 4 Decision Making Strategies to the test – you may be blown away by the results you see and the opportunities that suddenly become visible.
I’d love to hear about your successes and the changes you have experienced in your life, business or career as a result of implementing the 4 Decision Making Strategies. Send me an email at darren@darrenmitchell.com.au
To your decision making success!
Darren
Thank you for taking the time to read this post – I greatly appreciate it, and welcome comments and feedback. Please feel free to comment below, to follow me on LinkedIn, or to connect via Twitter or Facebook.
About : Darren is an Executive Coach, Leadership Consultant, Trainer, Facilitator, Speaker. A passionate and driven individual specialising in personal development, strategic planning, coaching for advocacy & enhanced performance, situational and servant based leadership, executive coaching of people leaders, emerging leaders and ‘high potential’ individual contributors within the Enterprise & Government market, personal change management, and strategic workshop facilitation & training.
