Are you a good Decision Maker? A simple “self-assessment”

When times are tough, be prepared to make tough decisions. Great leaders are great decision makers. In fact, poor leaders are often described as “indecisive”. Indecisive people are low in self-confidence. Organisations with indecisive leaders are stagnant. Decisions drive actions. Wrong decisions bring organisations down the wrong paths.

So how good are you a decision maker? Go through the simple 5-question checklist. Ask yourself these 5 questions.

1) Are you willing to seek diverged opinions from others or do you assume you are right and do not seek to learn from the insights of others?

2) Do you explore multiple options to get the best answer?

3) Are you willing to be uncomfortable to embrace creative solutions?

4) Are you realistic in your expectations and you are willing to go through the decision making process again if you can’t get it right the first time?

5) Do you communicate in an open and transparent way to your stakeholders?

If you or your managers do not have one or some of these qualities, not to worry. Decision making is a skill – a learnt behaviour – which can be developed over time through training and coaching.

Look out for good decision makers around you. Do they carry these qualities? What other qualities do they possess? How can you learn from them? What is one thing you can do differently from now on that make you a better decision maker?