Steps to Making a Good Decision

Decision-making is a valuable skill that can make or break your career. The ability to take a course of action that will lead to the best result is an asset that you can use not only in your job, but also in life. You need to decide in most executive jobssuch as in an accounting job, just as much as you need to decide on whether you should go to Seychelles or to Maldives for your honeymoon. Are you a good decision-maker?

Here’s a step by step guide that will help you arrive at the best decision for whatever problem or dilemma you will be in:

1. Purpose: Why do you have to decide? What is the gravity of your decision? What is the problem and why does it need to be solved? Knowing the answers to these questions will give you a good foundation for the proceeding steps.
2. Information: What are the factors that caused the problem? What are the factors that continue to aggravate the situation? What are the options and how can they affect the situation? The answers to these questions should be well researched and not just based on hunches and wild guesses. Take your time to find the necessary information that will help you arrive at the best solution.

1. Criteria: What are the deciding factors that will help you choose an alternative? Create a list of criteria on which you can base your decision on. These items should all lead to how you think the problem will be solved in the best way. Is it economical? Is it fast? Is it effective? Is it excellent? These are only some of the questions you can use as standards.
2. Ideas: Brainstorm different solutions that you think can be effective in attacking the situation. It is best to have different options, so you can be sure to arrive at the best at the end of the day.
3. Evaluation: Based on the criteria that you created, evaluate every solution you thought of doing. Identify the pros and cons of each alternative you created.
4. Decision: After all the five steps, you should be able to confidently arrive at a decision. Although there is still some form or bias, you can be more assured that your decision is plausible and can be effective, based on your preparations.
5. Action: Any good decision will be nonsense if not put into action. Create an action plan with steps that will help you achieve your goal easily and more realistically.

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