Take any decision making / situation evaluation model that you are familiar with. What factors do they include? Competition? Goals? Resources? Risk? Environment? Market?
What they all have in common is that they lack one of the most significant factors: you - the decision maker! Imagine this scenario. You are on the way to interview a new employee. It’s raining cats and dogs. As you are about to turn towards your office, a young driver dangerously overtakes a car in front of you causing an accident and making you 15 minutes late. You are fuming! You walk into the meeting room and you find yourself sitting in front of a candidate who has probably graduated just last year. Poor kid!!!
Let’s face it, our present state can influence our decisions. Strong emotions effect us, different biases we all hold will effect us, our row with our spouse last night can effect us. So what can be done?
During our workshops, we train leaders to include themselves as part of their decision making process. Becoming aware of your thoughts and feelings is a crucial part of decision making. A 60 second “time out”, allowing you to pay attention to yourself can turn choices into conscious decisions. Try it – before the next decision you make - name your feelings, notice what you are thinking, now you are in control!
Would you like to help train your managers to become better decision makers? Speak to us and we’ll tell you about our workshops. Meantime, check out our article “Are you Mad?”.