Steps to Make an Important Decision

Problems with decision making

Many people, even some in leading or manager positions, fear failure and tend to procrastinate an important decision for as long as possible. Others feel they require more clarity about the problem at hand or they experience a lack in a structured approach to solve the problem and come to a good decision and therefore hesitate to make and implement the decision. This procrastination can cause problems of its own as some decisions or problems get ever more complicated, if they are not solved in a timely manner. These problems can be overcome, when applying a logical path to the decision making process that involves a set of steps that need to be followed in a consistent order.

What are the steps to make an important decision?

State the problem

The arguably most important step in the process to make an important decision is to clearly state the problem. Without a clear picture about the problem or the kind of decision that needs to be made, you won’t be able to correctly follow the next steps in the decision making cascade. If the problem is stated unclearly or incorrectly, this lack of understanding will invariably lead to wrong decisions with sometimes dire consequences. Sometimes it is useful to write down the problem in a few sentences, like e.g. “Should I accept the promotion even though it involves relocation?” After the problem is clearly defined, the next step in the process of making an important decision follows suit in a logical manner. The next step is:

Identify the alternatives

Many times a decision is between two alternatives: Should I accept the promotion, or should I not? Should I get a divorce, or should I not? In these cases, it is very easy to identify the alternatives. In some decision making processes, however, more than two alternatives are involved. In these cases, it is helpful to make a list of all possible and sometimes even some more unlikely alternatives. Stating the alternatives explicitly on paper can often already lead to an easy elimination of the most improbable ones. Once the alternatives are clear step #3 comes into place.

Evaluate the implications of the alternatives

Each of the alternatives has different consequences or implications. For each of the alternative decisions, write down all the implication you can think of. An important part of this step is to weigh the implications from different perspectives. What does this decision mean to me? What are the consequences for my spouse? What will be the repercussions for my children? What does this mean for the different people at my work? Etc. Try to find even far reaching consequences that might not be obvious at first glance. You might consider sleeping over it and let you subconscious mind work the problem too. Make sure you evaluate the problem from as many different angles as possible, and not just from your own perspective. It sometimes helps to talk the implications of an important decision over with a friend. Once the consequences of your decision are clear you can go ahead with the next step.

Weigh the alternatives

You have stated the problem, have come up with alternatives and you have considered all the implications of each alternatives. Now it is time to weigh the alternatives. Think about the consequences and how important they are for you and other people. Write down a list with pros and cons for every possible alternative. Often this will lead to an easy exclusion of many of the lower ranking alternatives in a decision that has more than one possible outcome. The two highest ranking alternatives, or the only two possible alternatives can this way be evaluated in their value for your future and the future of other people involved in this problem. This step will lead you to the decision that you will find most beneficial.

This does not necessarily mean that the end product of this step will be an easy decision, e.g. you might evaluate that getting a divorce will be most beneficial for your own well-being, and you might even think, it might be healthier for your kids than seeing their parents fight everyday. Nevertheless, it will be hurtful to your children not to be able to see both their parents everyday, as well as it will be hard for you not to be able to see your children everyday.

However, as soon as you know what decision will be best, you should no longer wait and go straight ahead to step

Read More: Procrastination: Doing the Hard Stuff

Implementing the decision

You know what you should do, so now you need to do it. For some people, this is the hardest part about decision making. But the entire process and with it every difficult step you took so far to make this important decision is absolutely worthless, unless you implement the decision. If you have trouble with the implementation of your decision, enlist the help of a person that can do it for you. Another important part of the implementation step of the decision making cascade is the evaluation of the decision. You tried very hard to think of all the implications of the alternative you chose, but sometimes decisions have unintended consequences that can be hard to predict. Take the time and evaluate whether the real world implications match your predicted ones, and whether you continue to be happy with the outcome of your decision, after it has been implemented. If your decision is met with heavy criticism, be prepared to defend it with hard data. This is why you need to know all the consequences of your decision after its implementation in real world conditions and don’t just assume it will turn out the way you predicted, while going down the steps to make the decision. If you are not happy with the consequences of your decisions, don’t hesitate to amend or modify the decision.