Category: Professional & Management

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4 Strategies for Better Decision Making

When our teams and departments need to make efficient decisions, it can be challenging. Decision-making is compounded by complexity, political interests and conflicting personalities.

With more at stake, productivity can slow down and consensus can seem a long way off. Positions harden, alliances form and people compete as discussions move in opposite directions.

Below are four essential strategies that STL has seen significantly improve decision-making within our own teams and delegate groups.

Select Relevant Criteria for Decision-Making

Decision criteria are the variables identified as vital to the team, department or organisation making the decision. Variables enable the people involved in the decision-making process to efficiently evaluate the alternatives. For example, if all of the vendors under consideration for a new outsourcing project offer the same basic service, then it makes sense to eliminate that criteria. Since there is no variation, we are not helped in our decision making.

Besides that, having measurable and relevant criteria helps a team to compare one option with another. For example, “reliable” product quality is only a useful criteria if it is qualified with measurable data such as, “zero product returns” or “98% of customers are satisfied with reliability of this product”.

more productive decision making
4 strategies for better decision making
List Pros and Cons

When discussions diverge and different groups favour particular ideas, a useful strategy for reaching a decision is visualising the pros and cons. It means that people can see the alternatives and consider different perspectives.

If clear options do not emerge, the decision-making team can score each idea. For example, +10 might indicate strong approval while -2 shows mild disapproval. When each option has been evaluated and scored, an overall positive score means your team can move forward with a proposal, while a negative one might suggest it should be modified, shelved or discarded altogether.

Clarify Assumptions

It’s crucial to identify any assumptions that may be guiding the team’s thinking. Some assumptions surface immediately. However, depending on the complexity of the issue, blind sports will likely exist. In order to pinpoint them, we need to seek unbiased help from people outside the team who can probe for any unspoken assumptions.

Unspoken assumptions can undermine many of the important decisions we make. Examples include: key talent will be engaged and on-hand; assumptions relating to customer needs or perceptions; market prices stay the same or competitors don’t have a product of their own in the pipeline.

Most importantly, once we know what our assumptions are, we can analyse each one for better informed decision-making.

Breakout with Buzz-groups

When a larger decision-making group hits a wall, it’s time to mobilise a subgroup to come up with fresh ideas. They can then return and discuss their ideas with the whole group.

Conclusion

Arriving at well informed decisions can be difficult. Deciding on your criteria to compare options, making a visual list of pros and cons for different options, being clear about your assumptions, and establishing subgroups to overcome barriers to the process can all help your teams to successfully reach an agreement.

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3 tips to cope better with stress at work

Coping with stress

Stress defined? ‘When the demands placed upon us at work exceed our resources, and we feel we can no longer cope’. You’ve had a stressful day – there’s too much work, deadlines are tight and you’re worrying constantly if it’s not done. Perhaps your manager will blame you? Not a pleasant situation, and the last time was horrible. Now you’re also imagining what the next time will be like. It’s the end of another working day, and you feel exhausted, irritable and on edge.

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3 tips to help you manage stress at work

If you are stressed, you spend your day in a state of anxiety. Basically, you’re stuck in fight or flight mode, that wonderful caveman survival instinct designed to assist us whenever we feel threatened or in danger. You perceive a threat, and fight or flight is switched on, releasing adrenaline and cortisol into your bloodstream. There are physical effects (increased heart rate, raised body temperature, sweaty palms, butterflies in the tummy), but the main problem is the amount of nervous energy it gives you, which you are supposed to use to stay alive – either fight back or take flight! But you’re in the office, not about to engage a sabre-toothed tiger in mortal combat!

Here’s the thing: once you have dealt with the threat, the fight or flight mechanism is supposed to switch off. It’s only meant to be used in temporary, short-term bursts. The problem is that stressed out people see threats around them at work all of the time, so they go into fight or flight mode and get stuck there. The nervous energy within them builds up throughout the day, and at some point it will have to be released!

What can you do?

Let’s talk about coping networks. It’s all about finding an appropriate outlet for the pent up nervous energy, emotion and frustration generated during a stressful working day. These networks are very important, because if we can’t find an appropriate way of releasing our nervous energy, it will definitely come out somehow! This might take the form of an outburst – we’ve had a hard day, and someone says something we don’t like. Suddenly we start raging at this poor unfortunate person!

Here are some popular coping networks:

  • Exercise – ever wondered why people go to the gym after work, or go running? Obviously a healthy pastime, but also an effective way to burn off the nervous energy accumulated at work. Any form of sporting endeavour can be useful here.
  • Talking things through with family, friends and colleagues. Perhaps after you’ve played sport, it’s time for a drink in the bar? Over a nice glass of something, the conversation usually starts with ‘you will not believe the day I’ve had…’
  • Hobbies and pastimes – any activity which allows you to relax for a while!

There are no hard and fast rules here – it’s each to their own! Some people like to take the dog for a walk in the countryside, or learn to play an instrument, or wallow in a hot bath, with essential oils, scented candles and whale song on the CD player!

Conclusion

During a stressful day at work, nervous energy accumulates within us. That energy is going to find a way out at some point, and it’s better for everyone if we can control how and when that happens. As discussed, there are a number of possibilities available so find the coping network that works for you. After all, we all need a bit of ‘me’ time!