The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Decision Making
Arriving at decisions in the right way can increase your productivity and make you much happier in your work.
In the consulting world, we often like to talk about a “decision matrix” for solving problems. Given that consultants love complex terms like that, what we’re really talking about is the process of making correct decisions.
Deciding is something we all have to do constantly. If you’re in business, you make thousands of decisions, big and small, every day. The key to surviving this sometimes overwhelming torrent is to make those decisions in the way that’s right for you and for the decision that has to be made.
Understanding decision making
Understanding how to make decisions can have a large impact on your productivity.
An interesting blog from 99%, a company that guides in the execution of ideas, points out that understanding how to make decisions can increase productivity and make your working life much easier.
The blog says research shows that there are several ways in which decisions are made. The first is based on personality (if you haven’t already, or have forgotten what personality type you are, take a Myers-Briggs test).
"Satisficers" are, well, satisfied with what suffices. They set criteria for a decision and when that criteria is met, choose. "Satisficing" is a good way of making decisions because there is less stress involved.
"Maximizers" want to make the optimal decision, so they fret and continually gather more information. I’ve known many overly-anal maximizers and they often become so tied up in their information, they can’t make a decision. They’re not very productive.
Take-the-best decision making is best known from the Malcolm Gladwell book Blink. In this strategy, you reason and calculate only as much as you absolutely have to. Then you stop and do something else. It's a great technique for quick decisions about relatively inconsequential things. But it can seriously backfire on you if you apply it to the wrong situations.
Intuition, or “trusting your gut”
Ordinary intuition is just a feeling, and is very rapid. I believe it’s also a good technique for smaller decisions.
Expert intuition
Expert intuition is a snap judgement made when you recognize something familiar. It’s usually based on experience and knowledge of patterns and is very rapid, so is quite prized by many managers. But expert intuition can be bad for you if applied to the wrong situation. You may be making a decision based on experience that doesn’t fit the problem in front of you.
Strategic intuition
Strategic intuition is the ugly of decision making. It can tie you up for weeks until a flash of insight into a solution suddenly arrives, seemingly out of nowhere. Also, you have to turn off the expert in you and recognize you’re dealing with something new.
It seems to me that strategic intuition is your subconscious cogitating on a problem and then releasing its results in that burst of insight. That can feel wonderful, but the process can be quite wrenching, so should be reserved for solving only very important problems.
This good, bad, and ugly of decision-making techniques can be your own decision matrix from which you choose the appropriate tool for the appropriate task.
Choose wisely. Be happy.
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