Decision Making Made Easy : Just Follow My 10 D’s !
By: Chirag Shah
Tags: Leadership, Decisions, Process, Hierarchy, Decision Making

Photo by Victoriano Izquierdo on Unsplash

Over the years, I have observed many individuals and organisations grapple with one of the biggest problems facing the world: Indecisiveness!

It all begins with a lack of clarity as to what the final outcome should be, who should be involved, how quickly we need to act and conclude the issue, is there a need for any sense of urgency and it all eventually gets stuck in the quicksand of procrastination. The nightmarish impasse leads to disastrous outcomes in some cases loss of life, loss of goodwill, loss of clients, loss of revenue, loss of golden opportunities and more importantly loss of time.

Time is infinite but life is not, windows of opportunities are certainly not and taking this for granted and not taking quick, smart, thought through decisions is only on account that most people and organisations don’t have a process or system to take calculated and evaluated decisions within a reasonable timeframe. Time is of the essence, but they simply don’t get it.

Hence to make life easy for the faint-hearted, here are my 10 D’s towards a more robust and well-rounded decision making process:

Dream: Having a clear long-term and broad minded vision as to what we want to do and where we want to go, forms the bedrock of anything we wish to accomplish in life. If there is no thought given to this, the outcomes are myopic in nature and never really serve any concrete purpose. Dream big, think deep and envision vast. Discuss: A preliminary brain-storming session with key stake-holders to validate certain core points is of paramount importance. Building a general consensus early on and getting a ‘buy-in’ from all those affected or involved can only help in smoothening the sharp edges of the base idea and allowing a go or no-go choice to be made. Debate: Listening to opposing views can only make the final decision that much more well refined. A healthy debate and considering all interests allows for all views, doubts, concerns and apprehensions to be tabled before it is too late. This is the phase where the issues are thrashed out and people are encouraged to ask the difficult questions and play the Devil’s Advocate. Deliberate: This is a phase of further unifying the stake-holders and formulating the base-level plan. A range of views from external parties should be taken into account at this stage. It would also be prudent to listen to few industry experts or people who have experienced the outcomes of similar decisions in the past to validate the choices you or your teams are making. Diligence: Majority of the first four steps are about talking, being heard and hearing out others. The Diligence phase is about looking at cold hard facts and data. Gathering the relevant data-points, apple-to-apple comparisons, historical and existing trends is a critical component to take data-driven decisions and such analytical decisions are known to have greater success rates. Taking into account other factors such as legal, financial and compliance related consequences will be part of this phase. Decide: The hard work behind us, now is the time to take the final decision and come together in ensuring that the further steps are delivered correctly and in accordance to the diligence and overall plan. Once we decide, there is no looking back. Being resolute and committed with a single-minded focus to deliver is the essence of the Decision phase. Here it is important to have each other’s back and take collective responsibility. Deliver: The moment of truth or so to speak the actions taken to bring the decision into effect are all that matter at this stage. Ensuring that all parties move in harmony and tandem are the responsibility of the Leader or the Senior most person. Everyone has to pull their own weight and play their part with aplomb and style. Make the delivery process look well rehearsed and as if you have done it a million times over in the past. Demonstrate: Making something happen is not the same as Selling it. Creating visibility for your work and ensuring it gains the attention of all those who matter is also an important part of the 10 D’s. People should be aware of the work done and the benefits accrued. Using the right forums to create awareness for your work or decision is paramount to ensuring it receives due credit. If not, you will be left feeling empty and unacknowledged. Develop: Once the results of your decision begin arriving, it is important to take stock of what went well and what was off. Tweaking the missing bits at this stage will only aid in moving towards constant improvement which one-day will eventually lead to perfection. This phase should provide the teams or individuals with ‘food for thought’ through various means of gathering feedback so they can go back and fix what didn't work and build on what worked. Duplicate: Once something works, immediately make more of it. See where else it can be adopted and made use of. If a particular project or assignment has gone well because of the process you followed, duplicate it in all other works and make it the gold-standard of best practices in your homes and organisations. This is the only way to bring in the highest level of performance standards across all levels. Seeing how well it worked, you will also be met with none or very little resistance from the nay-sayers. You become the trend-setter, you become the benchmark!

Caution: Remember, this whole process only works if done in a quick, pacy manner with very little time lapse. If it drags on, the whole crux is lost. So go ahead, use these 10 steps to your benefit and enjoy the long-term gains in your homes, careers and businesses!