All
human beings are faced with certain situations in their everyday life,
where they need to take important decisions. However, decisions that are
made without any planning have a risk of leading to failure. To avoid
such problems, it is necessary to take decisions in an organized way.
This can be done by following these 6 steps of decision-making.
Decision-making
is usually defined as the act of making up your mind about something.
However, the process of decision-making is not as easy as it sounds.
There are certain important decisions that you have to make which can
change the course of your life. Even at a workplace, one is confronted
with problems or dilemmas, where the solutions should cater to the need
of others around you. Such decisions have to be made in a careful way,
especially if it is going to affect you monetarily, or if it is going to
bring major changes in your life. Thus, it is important to take
decisions in a systematic way, so that the decision you make has high
chances of being successful. The article here discusses the 6 steps to
decision-making process, that can help in clarifying certain things in
your mind before you take the final decision. These steps will also help
enhance your decision-making skills for different types of
decision-making.
How to Make a Decision in Six Steps
Defining the Problem: The first step towards a decision-making process
is to define the problem. Obviously, there would be no need to make a
decision without having a problem. So, the first thing one has to do is
to state the underlying problem that has to be solved. You have to
clearly state the outcome that you desire after you have made the
decision. This is a good way to start, because stating your goals would
help you in clarifying your thoughts.
Develop Alternatives: The
situation of making a decision arises because there are many
alternatives available for it. Hence, the next step after defining the
main problem would be to state out the alternatives available for that
particular situation. Here, you do not have to restrict yourself to
think about the very obvious options, rather you can use your creative
skills and come out with alternatives that may look a little irrelevant.
This is important because sometimes solutions can come out from these
out-of-the-box ideas. You would also have to do adequate research to
come up with the necessary facts that would aid in solving the problem.
Evaluate the Alternatives: This can be said to be one of the most
important stages of the decision-making process. This is the stage where
you have to analyze each alternative you have come up with. You have to
find out the advantages and disadvantages of each option. This can be
done as per the research you have done on that particular alternative.
At this stage, you can also filter out the options that you think are
impossible or do not serve your purpose. Rating each option with a
numerical digit would also help in the filtration process.
Make
the Decision: This is the stage where the hard work you have put in
analyzing would lead to a proper decision. The evaluation process would
help you with clearly looking at the available options and you have to
pick whichever you think is the most applicable. You can also club some
of the alternatives to come out with a better solution instead of just
picking out any one of them.
Implement the Solution: The next
obvious step after choosing an option would be implementing the
solution. Just making the decision would not give the result one wants.
Rather, you have to carry out on the decision you have made. This is a
very crucial step because all the people involved in implementation of a
solution should know about their implications. This is very essential
for the decision to give successful results.
Monitor your
Solution: Just making a decision and implementing it, is not the end of
the decision-making process. It is crucial to monitor your decision
regularly once they are implemented. At this stage, you have to keep a
close eye on the progress made by implementing the solutions. You may
need to measure the results of implementations against your expected
standards. Monitoring of solutions since early stage may also help you
to alter your decisions, if you notice deviation of results from your
expectations.
These 6 steps to decision-making process may, at
first, seem very complicated. However, these are essential
decision-making techniques that would aid you in taking proper decisions
in your personal as well as professional life. Moreover,
decision-making is an ongoing process and will never come to a
standstill.
By Deepa Kartha
