Experience these situations with HRDC:
A senior management team of an organization decided to relocate the company office to a new location.
Without consulting any important stakeholders within the company, they found a new office in a different street, believing it would better suit the organization’s needs, and signed the lease agreement. However, the team didn’t consider whether the new location would be suitable for the employees, and the result became clear after the decision was made: it wasn’t.
The office had been at the current location for many years—most employees lived and rented close by, making commuting very convenient. When the new location was far away with no common public transport routes, many employees decided to resign. This caused significant disruption, and the productivity and morale of the remaining staff dropped significantly.
This example shows that overlooking any factor during the decision-making process can have significant consequences for the business. In this article, we look at 10 common decision-making mistakes (in no particular order) and offer insights and tools to help improve your skills.
- Mistake 1: Procrastination
When you delay making a decision and end up working on something less important or engaging in distractions like making coffee, peeling fruit, etc., you are likely procrastinating. Not making a decision can make the situation worse—avoiding it doesn’t make it disappear!
One strategy is to give yourself a small “window” of time to begin tackling the issue. Procrastinators often don’t know where to start and feel overwhelmed, but breaking it down into manageable time blocks can help reduce the pressure of “having to do everything.” The Pomodoro technique is an easy method that helps you focus on one task and be more productive.
- Mistake 2: Either success or failure
Think about an important decision that made you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders, where you believed that making the wrong choice could lead to success or failure—an all-or-nothing situation.
We’ve all probably been in this situation, whether it’s deciding to take a new job, launch a new product, or buy a new house. While it may have felt like the biggest decision of your life at the time, ask yourself how you think about it now. By framing your decisions differently, you gain a new perspective on your choices.
One approach is to consider the worst-case scenario if you make the wrong choice. In some cases, when many people are involved or a large sum of money is at stake, a bad decision could indeed be a disaster—it’s important to carefully assess the risks and potential consequences. However, in many situations, the worst-case scenario may not be as bad as you think; and it can even provide you with a valuable lesson.
- Mistake 3: Lack of a Systematic Approach in Decision-Making
When making an important decision, such as launching a new product or developing an existing one, do you rely on gut feeling, or do you evaluate the data for each option?
Making decisions can be both exciting and stressful. To stay objective, it’s important to use a structured approach. A logical and organized process helps you consider all the essential factors involved.
The 7-step decision-making approach helps create a constructive environment with thorough checks and the development of alternative options. This method also shows how to explore options to make the right choice, assess your plan, and what to consider when communicating your decision.
- Mistake 4: Not Considering Different Perspectives
Many people rush to make decisions, especially when deadlines are approaching or under pressure. However, instead of making a quick decision, it’s essential to consider a range of different perspectives.
Before trying to solve a major issue, use the CATWOE checklist to think about a variety of factors and affected parties, which will provide you with a broader view. By considering these six elements, you can approach the decision from different perspectives and make a more comprehensive decision.
Once you have a comprehensive understanding of the issue, tools like ORAPAPA and perception positions can help you see the problem from different viewpoints and identify factors you may have overlooked.
- Mistake 5: Not Considering Stakeholders
When making an important decision that impacts others, it’s essential to involve key stakeholders. They will have insights and information that influence the choices you make, which will help you make better decisions. Furthermore, involving them makes it easier to implement the decision later.
Encourage them to contribute ideas and think creatively. Tools like the Charette Process and Circle Brainstorming are great ways to generate new ideas.
- Mistake 6: Avoiding Groupthink and Confirmation Bias
While it’s crucial to involve stakeholders, particularly when your decisions affect them, you need to be aware of groupthink. This occurs when the desire for group consensus overrides the desire to explore alternatives, challenge a position, or express unpopular views.
Groupthink doesn’t help you make better decisions or solve problems because it may prevent you from thoroughly considering all options. To avoid this, you need a process to test the assumptions behind the group’s decision. For example, using the Ladder of Inference helps you identify the thought process behind group decision-making and ensure the decisions are well-founded.
There are also psychological influences that make us prone to irrational decisions, such as jumping to conclusions (anchoring), expecting past events to affect the future (gambler’s fallacy), and blaming others when things go wrong rather than objectively observing the situation.
- Mistake 7: Overconfidence in Decision-Making
Many people believe they are objective and fair, considering all the available information before concluding an issue. However, it’s easy to make poor decisions if you are overly confident in your knowledge, especially if others see you as an “expert.”
People often build a reputation for expertise and good judgment by being careful and methodical in their decision-making process. However, they can be influenced by this very confidence, relying less on analysis and more on “gut feeling”—and that’s where mistakes arise.
If you are overly confident in your opinions, you may experience bias and subjectivity. This is when you seek out information that supports your existing beliefs and dismiss data that contradicts them. This can lead to poor decisions.
While “trusting yourself” can sometimes be right, you need to ensure that your instincts are based on systematically gathered information. To improve your decision-making, examine the sources of information you typically use when making decisions and actively seek out new insights.
- Mistake 8: Failing to Consider the Consequences
HRDC Collection/Share.
