In our ordinary lives, decisions have to be made. Even in our organizations or teams, it is a must to choose whether to do this or that. We make hundreds of decisions and choices every day. From deciding what to wear, what to eat and other mundane decisions that are required to go through the day to major important decisions that greatly impact our future without us realizing it.
Wise men say that our decisions today determine our future. This is what most people don’t realize. What we are now is the result or product of our decisions yesterday or in the past. So, if you want to anticipate what your future would be, then we should learn to make decisions today carefully and with purpose.
Decision making is the oil on the steering wheel that moves any organization forward. Without decisions, plans and programs means nothing and operations can be paralyzed to a certain extent. The same thing can happen in our own lives. Our decisions can direct us to where we want to achieve. Indecisions however, can stagnate anyone.
There are 3 kinds of people when it comes to decision making. The first one is the person who make decisions right away even without knowing all the details of the situation and without consulting others. The second decision maker is the opposite of the first one who has to get all the information needed before deciding and has to get the consensus of others. The third one is the person who doesn’t make decisions at all just to be on the safe side and simply wait for the situation to die down or let others do the decision making
We can’t blame people who are aggressive in making decisions regardless of who gets offended because they were made that way. So is the one who don’t make decision until every detail has been covered and thoroughly discussed and has to get the approval of others.
The indecisive however, has to learn to make decisions. I am not talking only about leaders. Everybody has to realize that we live in this world facing a lot of choices. We accomplish nothing if we merely play safe. By the way, risk is a part of decision making.
Sometimes we don’t make decisions for fear of failure. What I’ve learned in life is that no matter how I want my life to be perfect, I always commit mistakes. Therefore, failure is a part of life and it is normal to fail. A survey by the American Management Association disclosed that only 50% of the time that businesspeople make right decisions. They fail as often as they decide but they are not discouraged. They still move on and treat every failure as a learning experience. A stepping stone for success.
We have to learn to live with the consequences of our choices and decisions and not blame others. This is the problem for most of us. We always look for people to blame for our mistakes instead of being responsible to admit them and correcting them.
