How to Improve Your Decision Making Skills


Decision making skill is one of the qualities of a good manager.  Even as an individual, the ability to make quick and useful decisions will definitely add some worth to your life.  It has been confirmed that the type of life you lives is greatly dependent on the decisions you had taken before.  Is it not wise to make better decisions that will impact positive things in your life?
The following tips will help you make swift and good decisions.

Ask For Wisdom:  Avoid unplanned decisions especially when you are not sure or did not have the right answers.  Take out a little time to ponder, meditate and pray over the issue.  No matter how smart, educated and wise you may be, you cannot be smarter, more knowledgeable or wiser than God.  You need to commit the matter to him and seek for his direction.  The things you may think are right can end up being foolish, but when you act with the direction and guidance of God, you must surely make a good decision.  The wisdom to make good decisions comes from God and that is why you should seek that type of wisdom so that when you make your decision, it will provide solution to the problem.

Be Meticulous:  Decisions that involves human life must be handled with care.  In a situation where your decision will terminate the life of an innocent person or subject him to perpetual suffering, that decision needs to be taken with due consultation. Do not make your decision based on falsehood or biased information whereby the victim must have died or suffered tremendously before the truth is known.  Make enquiries, be thorough in gathering your information, ask from every side, and then go ahead and make your decision.


Weigh Cost against Benefit:  Some things may look rosy on the surface but when you go deeper  you will find out the inside is full of thorns. Before arriving at a decision, you must make sure it will be something that must be fruitful and beneficial to both yourself and others who are concerned.  It must be something that will serve the purpose of taking such decision in the first place.  Again, ask yourself why you are making such decision, is it to serve the purpose, is it fair to all concerned or is it just to satisfy some selfish desires.  You should neither use your decision to avenge a wrong done to you nor as a platform to show your worth.

View Your Decision from Outsider’s Point of View:  Put yourself in the shoe of an outsider and look at the matter from the outsider’s point of view.  Think about what your reactions would be if someone else had taken such decision.  No one can tell you the truth more than yourself.  Would you have accepted such a decision?  After seeing it from this point of view and you are satisfied you are fair to all, you should be assured you have taken a good decision.

I hope these tips will help.