More than ever before, as a manager, you will be asked to make some very tough decisions. Making decisions in management is part of the everyday routine. However, managers complain that there never seems to be enough time to make a thoughtful decision. In the world that we live in, everybody wants an answer yesterday. With the lack of time to make a decision, people in management need to understand the process which underlies every decision that needs to be made. You need the right skills to understand the underlying issues associated with each decision and if you have those, then making the right decision will be easy.
Not everybody is born with the skills to make good management decisions but most of us can actually learn them (sometimes either by bitter experience or other times by using someone like an accomplished business coach) provided we understand the basics of the process. There are some common personality traits that all good decision makers have in common.
Good decision makers usually have an open mind. They need to have this so they can listen to other peoples ideas and gain some needed insight from their input. Making decisions in management requires you to have information from a wide variety of sources.
Good decision makers also show a high level of tolerance. You need to have tolerance because there will be always some degree of uncertainty, difficulty and frustrations. Having tolerance means that you won’t be discouraged too easily.
Having a positive self-image is vital to good decision-making. There is seldom a perfect solution to a problem so being self-confident helps you to be positive about your decisions. You need to have confidence in your judgements. Even if you have made a bad decision, the important thing is not to worry too much about them and move on. If you worry too much, then you probably will not get much done.
Making decisions in management also requires you to have certain analytical abilities. If you have that quality, you can break a problem into various smaller parts, identify the major issues and then make a decision based on the most important factors and envision a certain outcome.
Making decisions in management can be hard work especially if you are dealing with situations you are not familiar with or the situation is very complex. Taking shortcuts is often the easy way, however, having good decision-making tactics will benefit you in the short term, long term, in your professional life as well as in your personal life.
