Trust Your Gut – But Do Your Due Diligence Too

How do you make decisions at work? Are you the type of person who engages in extensive research and mulls over each and every aspect of the situation before you make a move? Or are you more likely to act instinctively without spending much time at all in the decision-making process?

You might be thinking your decision-making action depends upon the specific type of decision that must be made. Big or small, personal or a decision that involves other people – those are the probable drivers for what sort of decision-making behavior you adopt. By and large people remain consistent throughout. The deliberators are investigative and methodical when making their decisions; those who act quickly and instinctively do so in all situations as well.

The truth is you need a little of both to be an effective and productive decision-maker:

Not all decisions are created equal.
Let’s face it: some decisions are more important than others. Your ability to assess the magnitude of the decision should impact how you approach it. What tie you might wear to work should not hold the same consequence as the compensation plan you are considering for your staff. Sweat the details but only when the situation warrants it!

You don’t have to make decisions on your own.
You should actively seek the advice of an outside expert when making a major decision about something not in your area of expertise. This additional insight will provide you with the information required to make a sound decision as well as give you the confidence to take action.

Trust your intuition.
Your intuition is based upon your past experiences and knowledge. When you have a sufficient amount of both you can begin to trust your gut when tasked with making a decision about something that falls into an area in which you have mastery.

Don’t let your emotions get in the way.
While there is a degree of emotion embedded in the decision-making process, the emotional component must always be balanced by an equal or greater degree of fact, logic and rational thinking. Emotion can cloud the process and undermine wisdom, pragmatism, and effectiveness of the decision.

It’s important to keep in mind the “consequences” of your decision and have the confidence to move forward accordingly. Hopefully these suggestions will help you with the process.