As women entrepreneurs, we make countless decisions that can impact our lives both personally and professionally.  Decision making, simply put, is the study of identifying and choosing alternatives based on the values and preferences of the decision maker. 

Do you find yourself struggling over how to handle certain decisions?  Imagine the impact of making the wrong decision.  Our success is based on the sum total of all our choices and decisions.  Instead of losing sleep over decisions we have to make, check out ‘5 simple steps to better decision making.’  

Simple Step 1:  Identify and clarify the issues
Before determining a resolution, collect information and identify what issues need to be resolved.  Make sure you have an accurate grasp of the situation.  Ask the Who, What, Where and Why questions.  By asking questions and considering the pros and cons of each, will help you in making the best decision and allow you to easily determine the underlying problems, thus, enabling you to initiate a potential course of action.    

Simple Step 2: Identify desired outcome   
To get real results, define your ideal outcome.  Determine what sacrifices you need to make to get the results you want.  Focus should be on the ideal outcome which will help in determining a measurable end result.

Simple Step 3: Choose the best options
You are down to the wire.  You’ve identified the issues and determined the desired outcome.  Now, examine the advantages and disadvantages and then create a list to help you in moving forward.  Select the best solution that balances costs with benefits.

Ask yourself:

  • Will my decision have adverse effect on those affected? 
  • Do I have a contingency plan devised in the event things go wrong? 
  • Does it reflect my personal and professional values?     

Once completed, you’re ready to implementation! 

Simple Step 4: Implement your decision
Implement your decision requires a detailed plan.  Once you’ve examined potential problems, you can execute a plan of action.  Interactions between everyone involved, will assure that you are all on the same page.  Be confident with your decision and begin to set the wheels in motion to start implementing changes.   

Simple Step 5: Evaluate your outcome
Monitor your results regularly.  This is an important step in development of your decision making skills.  As feedback is given, you can decide to allow more time for the decision more time to work, select from your list of the generated alternatives or simply repeat the whole process from the beginning. A few questions that can help you in your evaluation:  

  • Have the desired outcomes been met?
  • Can results be improved?
  • Are there lessons to be learned from this experience?

In conclusion, decisions have to be made whether you are ready or not.  By having a simple process in place will help you to become an effective decision maker.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with itSylvia Browder is CEO of Browder Consulting Group, a virtual small business consulting and training firm.  In her role, she helps women in business grow and succeed.  She is employed as Project Director and business consultant for the Women’s Business Center Inc, a non-profit economic development organization with a mission of empowering women to start and grow successful businesses.  She has served as an online volunteer SCORE counselor since 2004.  She also serves as a Technical Assistant Provider for SBA’s Community Express Loan Program.  For FREE weekly articles go to Sylvia Browder’s Blog for Women Entrepreneurs, www.sylviabrowder.com.  She can be contacted at info@browderconsultinggroup.com.    


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