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I've been in business for four decades. In that time, I've watched people making decisions in a variety of situations. I've seen a variety of outcomes. Based on that experience, here are some tips to improve your decision making.

Decide if you need to decide at all. Ask: "If we do nothing, what will happen?"

Decide when you need to decide. Not every decision needs to be made right away. It's a good idea to define your timeframe early.

Take time to define the problem and the specifications for a solution. You must define both, taking as much time as you can.

Ask "What's the story of this situation?" Draw an issue timeline marking key events. Either of those processes will give you a quick, rich review of the key issues.

Distrust consensus. Question the data.

Use structured processes. Structured processes give you two benefits. They take away the need to invent a process for every decision. And they help assure you consider everything.

If you have time, push on past the first good decision to see if there's a better one.

It's not over when you decide. Implementation is part of the decision.

It's not over when you implement. Embed a review and adjustment process in your decision.

Additional Resources

In the last few days we've looked at why good managers make bad decisions. I've shared some thoughts on how to use historical precedents in decision making, and how some decision making problems are the result of our humanity.

At first blush it seems like the web is chock full of resources for problem solving. I reviewed many sites that purport to provide problem solving resources or tools for structured problem solving.

The always-rich Mind Tools site offers an array of problem solving tools. Their list includes techniques such as appreciative inquiry, a macro-technique for organizational change. It also includes concepts that are not really problem-solving tools like "Michael Porter's Five Forces."

What I couldn't find was any site that describes the kinds of structured tools I referred to above. For that you have to go to print and to a book that's hard to find today.

Techniques of Structured Problem Solving by Arthur VanGundy offers seventy techniques that cover the range of problem solving, from defining and redefining the problem through implementation. Don't gag when you jump to Amazon and see the price on the current edition of this book. It's available for a reasonable price for used copies through Amazon and other sellers.

Here are three other recent posts on decision making.

Why good managers make bad decisions
Erin White interviewed Dartmouth professor Sydney Finkelstein in the Wall Street Journal about his research on decision making. I thought the questions were good and the answers lacked depth.

One of these things is not just like the other
When it's decision time, it's tempting to use previous experience or a historical analogy as a guide. But that's dangerous unless you do some rigorous comparisons.

With the humans come the emotions
Despite what you may have learned in economics, human beings make decisions for all kinds of reasons other than maximizing economic good. And they always bring their emotional humanness to the decision-making task. You'll make better decisions if you understand that.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.