Do you want to know how to improve decision making skills in the workplace?
If you do, then you are not alone.
The decisions you make affect your productivity and efficiency in the workplace.
Hence, you need to be careful with how you make decisions.
The only way to ensure this is to improve your decision making skills at work.
We are here to help as usual.
Therefore, we will share with you essential information on how to improve your decision making skills at work.
To begin, we will be looking at what decision making is…
What is Decision Making? – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
Decision making is the process or act of choosing an effective and right opinion or course of action from two or several alternatives.
The purpose of decision making is to achieve desired results.
So when the decision you made does not achieve the result you desired then your decision was flawed.
When you do not possess good decision-making skills, you will make wrong decisions.
As a result, your plans, organizations, directions, and execution of actions will be affected.
This, in turn, will make it difficult to achieve your goals.
Therefore, you need to possess good decision making skills to avoid this.
Decision Making Skills – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
The process of decision making includes identifying your alternative solutions, gathering information concerning your alternative, and accessing your alternative solutions.
It is when you have effectively done all of these that you can make appropriate or right decisions.
The following skills help you make the right decisions:
Analytical Thinking
Analytical thinking skills allows one to gather, organize, visualize, and analyze data.
In other words, it enables one to get the needed information and looks at the patterns, make connections, pick an appropriate alternative, and get solutions.
Hence, it is needed for decision-making.
Problem-Solving – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
Problem-solving skills allow one to consider different points of view and come up with a solution.
Hence, it is a skill needed in decision-making as it allows someone to consider the different or numerous alternatives and make a thoughtful and appropriate choice.
With problem-solving skills, you will find it easier to make decisions.
Time Management
Time is an important factor in decision making.
When you take time too much in making a decision, it can affect your productivity level.
Time management is a skill that allows one to effectively make use of their time.
Hence, it is a useful skill when making decisions.
Creativity Skills – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
Creativity helps one to harness their emotional and logical thinking to create unique ideas and solutions.
Your creativity level can make brainstorming sessions easier and more effective.
It allows you to see the different possibilities of every alternative.
Therefore, creativity skills are needed to make decisions.
Intuition
Sometimes, decisions are made based on gut feelings.
In other words, there are times when you would not have enough information to make decisions.
Oftentimes, in that situation the time to make the decision is limited.
Hence, the person making the decision needs to go with what their intuition is telling them.
This is one reason you need to learn how to listen to your intuition.
Critical Thinking – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
As much as you need to be creative and follow your intuition sometimes when making decisions, you also need to think rationally and logically.
There has to be a balance, and this is what critical thinking provides.
Critical thinking is the ability to rationally think, and understand the logical connection between variables.
When you can think rationally, you would find it easier to make decisions.
Collaboration
You need to know how to work with others to make good decisions.
For instance, you would need your sales manager’s input on the best way to generate better sales.
If you make the decision alone without consulting or speaking to your sales manager, you would most likely end up making the wrong decision.
So, collaboration is a skill needed to make decisions.
Active Listening – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
As you work with people when making decisions, you need to listen.
When we say “listen” we do not mean to passively listen.
We mean to listen and get and understand the information being passed across to you.
This way, you will not get the wrong information, and base your decision on it.
The skill that will ensure this is active listening.
Therefore, a person needs to possess active listening skills to make good decisions.
Organization – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
Finally, organization is the skill that will allow you to compile your information, priorities your alternatives and their possible outcomes.
It will also make it easier for you to identify the alternative with the best outcome.
Hence, organization skill is needed for decision-making.
Benefits of Effective Decision Making Skills at Work
Before we proceed to discuss some tips that will enable you to improve your decision-making skills at work, let us look at the benefits of effective decision making skills.
Now, for a person to possess effective decision-making skills they would have to work to improve them.
As a way of encouraging you to improve your decisions making skills at work, we will quickly look at some of its benefits.
Better Utilization of Resources
Effective decision-making skills can promote better utilization of the resources available to you at work.
In other words, when you possess effective decision-making skills you will make use of your resources efficiently and profitably.
This is something that will help your career and business to flourish.
Check here to discover how to manage business resources.
Goals Accomplishment – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
When you possess effective decision-making skills at work, you will have an easier time accomplishing your goals.
This is because decisions are what direct your actions.
So, when decisions towards your goals are right, you will also take the right actions and steps that will enable you to reach your goals.
When you keep making good decisions at work, you will have increased productivity rates, better resource management, and improved time usage.
All of which leads to more efficient achievement of your goals.
Better Company Culture
As a leader, other people look up to you for direction.
When you do not possess effective decision-making skills, you most likely will lead others terribly, and your company culture can suffer from this.
However, when you do, your employees will feel secure and committed to their jobs and the company.
This will increase employee engagement and make work effortless and enjoyable.
Organizational Growth – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
With the accomplishment of an organization’s goals, comes growth.
In other words, effective decision-making skills will allow you to make the right decision that will enable your business to grow.
Improved Motivation and Satisfaction
Your short-coming as a leader affects your subordinates.
So, when you are one to make bad or wrong decisions, it can affect your employee’s engagement, motivation, and job satisfaction.
This is because most employees do not trust leaders that make poor decisions.
However, the opposite is the case when you possess effective decision-making skills.
Your employees will trust you to make good decisions; this will make them do better at their jobs.
Their motivation and satisfaction will increase as the company keeps achieving its goals and grows.
Tips on How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
We have discussed the benefits of having effective decision making skills.
Now, we will be looking at some tips that can help you improve your decision making skills at work.
Some of these tips will be things that you would have to do every time you want to make a decision.
Others will be things you should do even without having a decision to make.
Know that these tips cannot be effective if they are not practiced.
So, make sure to practice the following:
1. Make Plans
Every time there is a decision to be made, ensure you have a plan.
Planning will help you to look at every factor that will affect your decision and know what the right decision will be.
For instance, if you want to decide on how to meet your business sales goal, you will not work alone to achieve that goal.
You might enlist the help of your employees to achieve this.
Hence, planning will help you to know what your employees’ actions should be.
Also, you will consider the resources you will need to make use of to achieve your goal.
These two factors combined will help you to make the right decision that will help you achieve your goal.
When you make it a habit to plan, you would see an improvement in your decision making skills.
2. Ask Experts – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
We do not know everything.
Hence, enlisting expertise help to decide on something to make can be very helpful.
So, do not hesitate to entail the help of experts to make the right decision.
We earlier gave an illustration of consulting with a sales manager when you want to decide on your business sales improvement.
Asking that expert will help you to avoid making the wrong decisions.
Also, asking experts will validate your decisions and boost the confidence you have in your decision-making skills.
3. Be Assertive
The process of making a decision can be tricky and nerve-racking.
If you do not take control of your nerves and stay assertive you most likely will make the wrong decision.
So, take control of the process and your emotions.
If you are working with others to make a decision, ensure that you lead them to consider the cons and pros of every alternative, and set a time-frame for the decision to be made.
You should also do the same when you are working alone.
When you do this, you will reach a decision faster without losing your cool.
The more assertive you remain during a decision-making process, the better your decision making skills will become.
4. Set Deadlines – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
For every decision, you want to make, ensure that you sent a time limitation.
This will help to minimize the time you would use to think about and alter your choice.
You have to know the impact of a decision before you set a deadline
For instance, if a decision impact will be huge on your work and business, then you might have to allocate more time to decide.
The way you make use of your time by setting deadlines and time-frame will help to improve your decision making skills.
5. Keep Things in Perspective
Understand that time is a valuable resource that cannot be gotten back.
Hence, you have to be careful of the way you utilize it when making decisions.
In other words, do not spend a lot of time debating and dwelling on smaller decisions.
Rather, focus that energy on dealing with larger decisions.
Yes, every decision matters in the workplace.
However, you should understand that some have more relevance, value, and impact on your business.
So, judge each decision based on its value.
When you keep your decisions in perspective, you will be more flexible and find it easier to compromise.
6. Weigh Your Pros and Cons of Each Alternative – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
Every alternative or choice you have to choose from has its negative and positive sides.
So, when making decisions, ensure that you weigh and consider all of the pros and cons of each choice.
When you do this, it will help you to evaluate your choices or alternative informatively.
The best way to weigh your pros and cons is to have them listed out and look at and consider each of them objectively.
This will help to improve your problem-solving abilities and critical and analytical thinking.
7. Limit Choices
The process of making decisions can be difficult when there are more choices to make.
So, reducing your choice is a great option.
When you limit or reduce your choice it automatically reduces the time you will use in making your decision as you will be able to think more critically about the remaining choices.
Generally, it will give you an easier time making a decision.
8. Rest More – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
When you are tired, you are most likely to make choices based on comfort or ease.
This is said to be decision fatigue.
To avoid making the wrong decisions, you need to rest up well, sleep well at night, and be clear-headed.
Rest is especially needed when the decision you are to make is a big one.
If you have to make a decision but you cannot sleep or rest before you do, ensure that you clear your head before making the decision.
You can clear your head by taking a short walk around your work surroundings before going back to make your decision.
9. Exercise
Exercise does not only benefit the body.
It also boosts the brain’s cognitive functions and concentration abilities.
You need your brain to function well when making decisions.
Hence, engaging in exercise will help to improve your decision-making skills.
You can just engage in simple exercises such as walking, running, jogging, or dancing.
Whatever exercise you decide to do, ensure that you perform it regularly.
10. Make New Friends – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
Knowing several people provides you with different perspectives on different matters.
For those who you trust, you have people who can offer valuable advice to you when having a decision to make.
Working or collaborating with new people helps to improve your active listening and teamwork skills.
Let us assume that you ask fellow business persons you are acquainted with how to handle a particular project.
Some of those acquaintances might have experienced that issue you are facing, while others might have not.
So, having more acquaintances and friends will provide you with more people you can ask for advice or help from.
11. Learn and Get Better
It is what you learn that you would know.
So, to improve your decision-making skills make it a habit to learn from your previous decisions.
Learning from your previous decisions will help to build you to make better decisions.
The way to learn from your previous decisions is to analyze them and their outcome.
Then when making decisions that are related to your previous decisions, make use of the information you gathered as a guide in making new and better decisions.
12. Experiment – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
You can check your decisions by experimenting.
This will help you to know if your decision is appropriate.
So, when you are not sure about an action or result, you can try making up decisions that are similar to the one you are about to make and watch the outcome.
You can make use of the information you get to make your decision.
13.Work With a List
When you prioritize your decisions you would make improvements in your decision-making skills.
So, do not hesitate to create your list of things you need to decide on or accomplish.
When you create this list, you can start with small decisions and work your way down your list.
As a result, you will feel accomplished and empowered.
Also, it will boost the confidence you have in your decision-making abilities.
14.Take Breaks – How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
When you are pressured by a decision, give yourself a break.
This will help you to gather your thought and refocus.
So, instead of racking your brain non stop to make the decision, read a book, take a stroll, or focus on a different task.
15. Practice
Frequently engaging in practicing decision making will train your brain to be effective in making decisions at work.
So, engage in practicing decision making.
The best way to do this is to make it a habit to make decisions on the simplest issues.
When you are confident making smaller or simple decisions, you can try practicing more complex or bigger decisions.
Conclusion on How to Improve Decision Making Skills in The Workplace
Making decisions can be tricky and tough.
You do not want to make the wrong decisions and get bad outcomes.
So, you try to be careful.
However, the fear of making the wrong decision at work can be limited when you possess effective decision-making skills.
So, if your decisions making skills are poor, you can work to improve them.
In this article, we have shared tips that will help you improve your decision making skills at work.
So, we ask you to take advantage of them and become a better decision-maker at work.
