7 Solid Tips for Making Decisions Easier

Monica Enand of Zapproved shares some great insights in a guest post over at zen habits: The Fine Art of Decision-Making – 7 Tips for Getting Decisions Made Easier. You'll wanna read the whole post for the complete lowdown. Here are the seven tips Enand shares - very worthwhile:

1. One Decision at a Time. Do not lump several decisions into one. Break them apart and isolate them so that the team can address them individually. This will narrow the focus of any objections raised so that the discussion is manageable and can be concluded quickly.
2. Be Transparent. Hold discussions in the open, either in person or virtually. Successful organizations put decisions in the sunlight. Closed-door agreements can fuel speculation and inhibits the group’s ability to buy-in to the agreed upon direction.
3. Give the Facts. Be proactive about gathering the required information in advance. Data-driven decisions go smoothly and avoid injecting emotion which will muddle the process. People need data, whether it’s research, budgets, timelines. Provide so they don’t have to come back and request it later.
4. Minimize Participants. Include people on the decision that need to be there. If others have an interest, you can copy them but don’t invite them. Ask yourself if a person’s objection would stop the project. If not, then don’t include them.
5. Subtract Words. Use the fewest words necessary to convey the proposal. Your team will absorb the scope, but extraneous details will dilute the message and might distract from your main objective.
6. Be Clear What “Yes” Means. It sounds obvious, but when creating a proposal, create a proposal. Request in a crisp way and use actionable language. This is a common mistake. Add focus and formality as needed in the Subject line and in the message itself. Don’t say “let me know what you think” when you mean “do you approve this project.”
7. Record the Decision. Seems simple but is hard to do, especially in email. There is a reason boards of directors keep minutes. People will take the decision seriously and will abide by it if they know it is saved in a place that is public. Think about a document or folder on an intranet or on the web where the agreement is recorded. Even if it is not referenced, the simple fact of know it exists will create peer pressure and accountability that is powerful.

Some really great tips - two that I tend to struggle with are "4. minimize participants" and "5. subtract words". I can get (way too) wordy so I often need several editing session to trim out extraneous text from docs and emails. I also try to be mindful to include people from other groups and teams, so I have to be judicious in not *over* inviting folks to meetings or tacking on addresses to threads, when folks would rather just be updated at the END of the decision making process.

Thanks to Monica Enand & zen habits for the great tips! What tips & techniques on decision making do you have to add or share?

image courtesy of: http://theyesyoucanshow.com/tag/confidence/