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Scaling an enterprise requires agility, and one of the most vital elements of that agility is improved decision-making.
In my years of working with hundreds of business leaders and CEOs, I’ve found that many of them have trouble taking even three months off without fearing that their business won’t survive without them. Why? Because they’re often the only ones making key decisions.
As a business leader, CEO or general manager, your ability to make accurate and timely decisions is critical to the success of your organization.
What is improvement?
Streamlining involves simplifying or eliminating unnecessary tasks in order to improve the efficiency of business processes. This might be achieved using modern techniques, technologies, and strategic approaches.
Effective decision-making requires thorough evaluation of the situation, careful consideration of accessible options, and making the most suitable option – often under great pressure.
Why is executive decision-making so necessary?
Executive decision-making is the cornerstone of any successful organization. Whether you’re running a startup or a large corporation, the ability to make good decisions might be the difference between success and failure. From the perspective of potential investors, customers, or strategic partners, poor decision-making is a red flag that may directly impact your organization’s scalability.
Leaders play a key role in this process, setting the direction of the organization and making decisions that may shape its future. A nasty decision can have serious consequences. However, there are strategies that may improve decision-making.
At Growth Institute, we focus on making the executive decision-making process smooth. Below are effective methods and three beneficial resources to make it easier to sharpen your decision-making skills.
1. High-stakes negotiations
Learning to negotiate “without fear” is essential to making higher critical decisions. I honed my negotiation skills with Dr. Victoria Medvec, who works with Fortune 500 corporations around the world. She helps leaders turn out to be masters of negotiation and make quick, sound decisions.
Negotiation is a collaborative process in which parties work together to reach mutually useful decisions. Dr. Medvec’s insights can make it easier to overcome common fears about negotiations, similar to:
- “I’m afraid I’ll destroy your relationship.”
- “I’m afraid the other side will leave.”
- “I’m afraid I’ll make a bad deal.”
Her methodology emphasizes thorough preparation, understanding your goals, the other party’s needs, and the potential outcomes. Dr. Medvec advocates knowing your value and setting your goals high, cautioning against underestimating yourself and recognizing that your initial offer is the place to begin for negotiations. Understanding and refining your BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) is essential because it provides leverage and enables assertive negotiations.
Rather than simply stating that value is necessary, Dr. Medvec encourages the creation of win-win scenarios by identifying opportunities that profit each parties. Managing fear and anxiety is also key, with strategies to reduce stress and reframe negotiations as collaboration reasonably than confrontation. Overall, her approach equips negotiators with the tools to approach negotiations with confidence and achieve higher outcomes.
2. Randy H. Nelson’s Three- and Three-Critical Decision-Making Model
Randy H. Nelson’s Decision Series is a beneficial resource that may help improve executive decision-making.
A. Define your role and responsibilities: The first step is to understand what critical decisions you are prepared to make. Nelson’s book, Second decisionguides you in defining your role for the next 3-5 years. Are you to be a Leader, a Role Player, or a Creator?
B. Overcome Entrepreneurship Addiction: Third decision focuses on making more informed decisions to avoid future regrets. It helps address the concept of “entrepreneurial addiction” and encourages thoughtful planning for a regret-free entrepreneurial journey.
C. Make smarter decisions faster: Fourth decision enables effortless decision-making through practice. Introduces the concept of unconscious competence and the concept of “core”, helping you make informed decisions quickly and confidently.
3. Three Disciplines That Will Speed Up Your Performance by Verne Harnish
If you do not make firm decisions as quickly as you prefer to, it’s for one of three reasons:
- Priorities (alignment): You’re either working on the incorrect thing or on too many things. Our course demystifies priorities, helping you identify what to focus on next.
- Data/Metrics (Clarity and Prediction): You need feedback from customers and employees. The habits you adopt recurrently to get that information will drive your decisions.
- Meeting the rhythms (higher, faster decisions): Data is worthless if it is not discussed.
Steelcase, a $4 billion manufacturing giant, implemented Rockefeller Habits in 2000 and saw a 12x improvement in productivity. They still practice the fundamentals each day.
Each of the 4,000 employees is within reach of a easy board that lists 4 areas of focus—safety, quality, delivery, and cost. The board details activities, data, and priorities to keep everyone on the same page. Steelcase employees discuss data during a seven-minute each day meeting. In this case, Rockefeller’s habits work best:Share your data, then start a discussion about it.
Discuss your focus and data in your each day huddles. If you would like to move faster, pulse faster. Transparency allows you to focus on the brutal facts that drive performance. Start tracking your progress for everyone to see and your performance will improve. How will you implement this in what you are promoting?