How To Make A Big Decision In Your Business!

You’re in your office, sitting at your desk, in front of you is a large red button with the words “DO NOT PRESS” plastered over it.

You are now so past your comfort zone you don’t know which way is up. The clock is ticking. Time is running out. Both decisions have repercussions. What do you follow, gut or logic? heart or head?

Although we must admit, not every or in fact any decision you face will be quite as dramatic as this, business owners face large decisions that often affect the lives of many people, usually employees and family members.

Business owners are always faced with making big decisions in every part of their business, as part of being an experienced business coach one of the first assessments I make is where you naturally sit in your D.I.S.C profile.

What kind of personality group do you fit into, by knowing yourself you can identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Understanding your business blueprint is vital to support the growth of your business and your decisions as a leader. So, mastering the art of how to make big decisions in your business has a direct bearing on how successful you are and how quickly you will reach your goal.

The Decision making process

Do I hire that individual? Do I move into bigger offices? Do I sell up?

Being presented with options is not always a bad thing, most business owners react quickly whilst others like to weigh up the pro’s and cons of each, ultimately it’s your belief about the outcome of each decision that determines which way you move and your disc profile.

• Recognise that a challenge exists (Need more staff, more space…)
• Assess the possible solutions.
• Evaluate the outcomes of each solution on how likely they are to bringing you closer to your goal.
• Make the decision.

One of the most important things to note whilst making a decision is how you feel, what emotional state are you in. There is nothing worse than a business owner making a big decision in a bad or frustrated mood.

Take a moment and collect yourself and think about the decision objectively. Weigh up the positives and negatives and value each point.

If you’ve had a bad day and make a quick fire decision whilst feeling disgruntled you increase the chances of making the wrong decision. Many times business owners struggle to make a decision because the are so far out of their comfort zone.

Without the existence of choice, there cannot be comparable options, so it’s important to understand that when faced with an important business decision it’s not the options themselves that present the uncertainty but the beliefs you hold about each outcome that ultimately drive what you decide.

A recent study by Research Unit at University of York 2008 on Understanding the Dynamics of Decision-Making and Choice concluded that it is the belief about outcomes of decisions that drive the choice made. Read more here.

When push comes to shove, as the business owner, you have to take all the points for both cases and assess which one decision is better for your business.

The best business owners review the results often and adjust or adapt their business accordingly.