Making Important Business Decisions

For any business to succeed, the right decisions should be made. This is a very broad topic that can attract a huge debate. To help break down this topic is Jonathan Osler. Osler is a famous educator with several years of experience in different sectors. Through his education, entrepreneurs and managers can now run their businesses better. The following are some tips that he believes every business should follow to make better decisions.

a) Make a good environment:

The type of environment a leader creates can influence the kind of decision-making they do. A good environment should entail; clarity about purpose, having a vision and mission statements, clearly defining goals and objectives for both individuals and organizations. The environment should also be free from distractions such as movement restrictions, noise pollution, etc.

b) Make data gathering thorough:

Hire professionals where necessary to make technical decisions. This “credible” data ensures that the decisions made are right because they come from a pool of experts who have looked well into what happens before and after a particular event or occurrence. Gathering credible data should entail;

i) Identifying the major drivers of success for the organization and ensuring they are at least getting better each year. So, to make an important business decision, managers should know what their companies are doing well and what they could be doing better.

ii) Asking others for their opinions:

Managers may not always have all the data they need. In such cases, enlists the help of other people who can gather vital information regarding the issue to develop a better solution.

iii) Researching:

Apart from asking for opinions and data gathering, it is also necessary that business owners research issues or problems affecting their businesses. This is a very good way of ensuring that they have access to information they might not know about.

c) Make decisions based on intelligence:

In this case, intelligence refers to making decisions with the right kind of information to ensure that whatever they decide is correct. To make decisions using intelligence entails;

i) Prioritize decision criteria:

When making choices, Jonathan Osler thinks it is important that managers identify the most important objectives then rank them in order of most important, least important, etc. If a decision will affect multiple aspects of a company, prioritizing helps find the most effective option for different objectives. For example, if a store’s sales are down, it might be that its products are weak or its billboard advertisements are turning customers off.

ii) Act on strengths:

The more information a leader has, the better choice they make. For this reason, it is important to act on all the information available to avoid choosing an incorrect option. If there’s anything lacking data, it would be advisable not to make a decision but rather delay it until complete information can be acquired.

d) Take responsibility:

Every time a manager makes a decision, all circumstances should be placed around them to help identify any deviations from the plan and correct them immediately before they result in something more serious that may affect business goals. This also requires that managers are open to criticism and feedback to avoid making decisions that might result in a mistake.