We make hundreds of decisions each day — from something as simple as what to have for breakfast to something as impactful as the budget allocation for the month. In business, making the best decisions is a surefire way to effectively lead your company toward stability and expose it to more opportunities for growth. This is why a leader’s decision-making skills are crucial to the success of any business.
Train yourself to make better decisions by engaging in outdoor and decision-making training since these compel you to think on your feet and be more strategic when making choices. You can also train with a coach or go for simulations to gain more concrete experience in making business decisions.
Let’s dive deeper into why leaders need to enhance their decision-making skills, starting with some misconceptions about decision-making and the truths behind them. We will also discuss the merits of being reliable in making the best decisions for your company. I will then walk you through some pointers on how to train yourself to make better decisions through decision-making training, coaching, outdoor training, and simulations.
Why Making the Best Decisions is Crucial in Business
As a leader, making the best decisions is crucial in business because your choices can spell the difference between failure and success. Risks are inherent in managing a business, but you must learn to be more critical, strategic, calculating, and purposeful when plotting courses of action for your organization.
Common Misconceptions About Making Decisions
Many people find it difficult, even daunting, to make decisions. It’s perfectly understandable in business since making choices can mean the difference between success and failure. However, decision-making is part and parcel of your job as a leader.
Most of the negativities attached to decision-making stem from misconceptions about making decisions. Let’s discuss some of them:
1. Being a Good Decision-Maker Is an Intrinsic Trait
Making the best decisions may seem to come naturally to some people, and you may be daunted by the idea that this is an inherent leadership trait, something you feel you don’t naturally possess. Remember, decision-making can be learned — it’s all about understanding the fundamentals, adequate application of your learnings, and learning from your mistakes.
Some leaders address this false notion by delegating decision-making tasks to people they deem worthy of such heavy responsibilities. However, restricting yourself from reaching your full potential by believing in this misconception will jeopardize your business.
It would be like fully entrusting your child to the care of a nanny. Soon enough, you’ll lose control over how that child develops, and you might even realize that your original visions are no longer coming into play.
2. Decisions Are Final
Some people think decisions are etched in stone — you must see it through to the end once you’ve made your final choice. However, the best leaders leave some wiggle room when making decisions. You can always change your mind or adjust to the situation if your intention isn’t precisely as anticipated.
Keep in mind that decisions aren’t linear — the process is circular. You must come around to ensure things are going smoothly and to check if there are adjustments to be made. Not doing so and being stubborn about your choice can endanger your business. Good leaders are adaptable and always willing to recalibrate depending on current circumstances.
3. Decision-Making Is All About Trusting Your Instincts
This idea may have worked for you countless times in the past, but it isn’t reliable, especially in the business setting where one wrong move might ruin your company. Instead of always trusting your gut, collect as much information as possible and gather feedback and insights from relevant people to gain various perspectives and boost your chances of making better choices.
Leaving the fate of an entire organization to chance is not something a smart leader would do. When leading a team, you must prepare, plan, and implement your ideas rationally, purposefully, and conscientiously.
It’s like riding a bus. Would you get on one if you knew that the driver is inexperienced and has several road accidents under his belt? I’m willing to bet you’ll gladly wait a few extra minutes for the next bus to arrive. Putting your safety in jeopardy and merely crossing your fingers as you hop onto that bus isn’t something a sensible person would do.
Benefits of Making Better Decisions
Making better decisions will undoubtedly do wonders for your business. Here are some benefits you may enjoy once you focus more on how to make smarter choices:
- You’ll become better at solving problems with all the experience you gain.
- Your employees and peers will trust and respect you more as a leader.
- You’ll have fewer regrets.
- More organizational goals will be realized.
- You’ll enjoy a higher sense of accomplishment.
- You can spend more time on other equally important business matters.
- You can expect higher engagement, motivational levels, and productivity from your team.
How To Train Yourself To Make Better Decisions
Training yourself to make better decisions is a great way to invest in yourself and enhance your leadership brand. Here are some tips on how you can work toward becoming a better decision-maker:
1. Decision-Making Training
Decision-making training can enhance your leadership skills in effectively managing your business. Your critical thinking, risk assessment, and problem-solving competencies will be sharpened and tested so you become better equipped to handle even the most challenging situations in the workplace.
Here are some aspects generally addressed in decision-making training:
- How to make intelligent daily choices in the workplace. No matter how seemingly trivial, each decision can have a lasting impact on the organization.
- How to make high-value decisions. This is where top-tier leadership skills are needed because they often define your business, set the pace for its growth, and direct it toward realizing set goals.
- How to rationally analyze decisions. Making better choices isn’t the be-all and end-all of decision-making. Leaders must also learn how to assess their choices to determine if they’re still relevant, need to make adjustments, or if it would be wiser to abandon the idea altogether.
2. Coaching
Working with a coach and being open to new strategies and styles can help you make better decisions for your business. An excellent coach will help polish your decision-making attitude and share nifty techniques with you.
Let’s take a closer look at what you can gain from spending time with a decision coach:
- A better understanding of the science behind decision-making. Our brain functions affect the way we make choices. A good choice will increase your awareness of this aspect so you can gain better control of your biases and predispositions.
- Stimulate your creativity. The coaching process takes you away from the all-too-familiar atmosphere of your workplace and may help you gain fresher perspectives on the various issues you encounter in the organization.
- Provide structure to your decision-making process. A great coach will introduce you to various decision-making tools that can help simplify and accelerate your decision-making process.
3. Outdoor Training
Would you have guessed that the wild outdoors can be an excellent training ground for better decision-making? Experiential training can help sharpen your most crucial leadership skills, so you become better equipped to make the best decisions for your business.
Some of the most exciting activities to engage in are:
- Biking
- Hiking
- Mountain climbing
- Skiing
- Whitewater rafting
- Camping
Here are some ways these outdoor activities can help enhance your decision-making skills:
- Increased self-awareness
- Improved risk acumen
- Enhanced problem-solving and critical-thinking skills
- Improved communication skills
- Higher self-confidence
- Improved creativity and innovation
At Sancus Leadership, we design tailor-fitted outdoor activities that will sharpen your competencies in decision-making. We’ll also guide you through the process of translating your learnings and experiences from the wild to the boardroom. When you’re ready to see the impact experiential training can have on your leadership style, book us a free leadership call, and we’ll gladly discuss the details with you.
4. Simulations
A deeper involvement in the organization’s various processes can help you develop a firmer grasp of the multiple issues and concerns it faces every day. Simulations are one way to do so without putting too much risk on the business’ welfare and stability.
Similar to how pilots, surgeons, and military personnel are trained through scenario replications and mock-ups, business leaders can also utilize simulations to enhance their decision-making skills.
Business simulations offer an interactive approach to learning that compels participants to apply their learnings in a virtually risk-free environment. Here, they can freely experiment with various strategies, use a trial-and-error method, or formulate innovative tactics. Simulations also provide safer venues for learning from mistakes.
