Common Mistakes you Should Avoid in Decision Making Process

Strong decision making ability is a quality that a leader must possess. The decisions you make today will determine your success or failure. It may seem to be a very heavy responsibility in making some of the decisions. It is better for you to investigate and examine all the factors before you make a choice. Some issues are too critical since they're of urgency in nature. Such issues require no delay in decision making otherwise if there is any delay, then the opportunity may be lost.

That is why you as a manager you should possess the trait of being confident and able to make decisions quickly. Bad leadership is connected with lack of ability in making decisions. There are some common mistakes that people make when it comes to decision making process.

Six Mistakes to Avoid in Decision Making

1.) Indecisiveness

My English dictionary tells me that indecisiveness is the state of being unable to make a choice. You should avoid being in this state because it worsens the problem. A good leader should not only be able to decide quickly but also wisely.

2.) Postponing and Procrastination

Don't postpone decisions when you have the opportunity of making them. Postponing arises especially where a person is under pressure and eliminates his possibility of analyzing the problem. A time limit for information gathering, analyzing and selection of the course of action must be formulated in order to avoid the mistake of postponing and procrastinating in decision making process.

3.) Failure in Getting Reliable Information

If you don't have access to reliable source of information regarding the problem, then making decisions may result to wrong rulings. Don't take it for granted that other people's opinions are correct by not checking the accuracy of their source of information. You should find reliable sources of information in order to avoid making bad decisions.

4.) Failure to Isolate the Root Cause

You should differentiate the symptoms of the problem and its root causes. If you do this, then you're in a better position of finding better solutions thus avoiding the mistake of making a decision that is wrong.

5.) Bad Method of Analyzing the Problem

Come up with the proper procedure of identifying, isolating and selecting the useful information that is sound and dependable. Come up with a model that incorporates and handles many variables to aid you in decision making process. It is also desirable for you to define the objectives, criteria and constraints as early as possible.

6.) Not Implementing and Following

After you have made the decision, you should not conclude that you're done. Instead, it is the beginning in seeing that the decision made achieves the anticipated results. Implementation of the decision is the true beginning of solving the whole problem. You should follow its progress in order to find out how it's being executed.