A checklist to help you make better decisions faster

Decision-making overload is a common experience among managers. But you can process choices more efficiently and achieve better outcomes by using a checklist:

1. Write down five company goals that will be impacted by the decision. This helps you avoid the rationalisation trap of making up reasons for your choices later.

2. Write down at least three realistic alternatives.

3. Write down the most important information you are missing.

4. Write down the impact your decision will have a year from now.

5. Get buy-in from a team of at least two (but no more than six) stakeholders. Hearing different perspectives reduces your bias, but bigger groups have diminishing returns.

6. Write down what was decided as well as why and how much the team supports the decision. This increases commitment and helps you measure results.

7. Schedule a follow-up in a month or two to make course corrections.

(Adapted from A Checklist for Making Faster, Better Decisions, by Erik Larson)

If you’re afraid to confront your boss alone, get help from your team

It can feel risky or even futile to share certain concerns with your manager. Perhaps they’re about a business policy or process that your boss is wedded to, or maybe the problem is your manager’s behaviour or performance. Too often, silence prevails because no one on the team wants to speak up. But if you and your co-workers band together, you may be able to solve the problem. Try to bring up the issue in a weekly team meeting. If getting everyone in the same room at the same time proves impossible, your team members can try to schedule one-on-one meetings with the boss instead. And if that doesn’t work, consider approaching a skip-level boss together. Be sure to use ‘we’ language in each of these conversations. There’s strength in numbers, and you’ll be less likely to be written off as a disgruntled employee if people see that you’re raising a systemic issue.

(Adapted from When It’s Tough to Speak Up, Get Help From Your Co-Workers, by James R. Detert and Ethan R. Burris)

Invest your energy more wisely

Most of us operate at full tilt, with little energy to spare. So we need to be strategic about where we put our energy so that we apply it to what matters most. Here’s how to start:

— Track your energy. Set your phone to beep at random times to prompt you to notice how you’re spending your energy.

— Know what matters. Figure out what brings the most value and joy to your life.

— Plan wise energy investment. Once you know which things matter most, schedule as many of them in your calendar as possible.

— Plan where not to invest. Once you become more aware of where you’re putting your energy, you’ll notice which activities are pointless energy drains.

— Don’t overthink it. It can be as easy as pulling yourself out of a useless conversation, not responding to a silly email or letting go of a nagging thought.

(Adapted from 5 Steps to Investing Your Energy More Wisely, by Peter Bregman)

Keep encouraging your employees to learn

The best way for organisations to drive the business forward is to make sure that employees are continually learning. What can managers do to encourage learning? When you’re hiring, look for people who have demonstrated that they’re lifelong learners. Then look for services that provide up-to-date, relevant content on a wide variety of topics. Don’t worry if your employees want to learn something that’s not directly related to their job. By learning something new, no matter what it is, they’re practicing the skill of learning, which is invaluable. Plus, you never know how learning an unrelated skill can help down the road. But do take an active role in partnering with your employees to figure out the skills they need to develop based on business goals. And don’t forget to encourage and reward people who demonstrate quick adaptive learning.

(Adapted from To Stay Relevant, Your Company and Employees Must Keep Learning, by Pat Wadors)

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, May 23rd, 2016