Everyone struggles with making decisions. There can be a lot at stake, especially when it comes to making business decisions but these high stakes are exactly why your business needs someone decisive at the helm.
The 3 traits of a decisive person
Focused – A decisive person has their eye on what’s best for the business in the long-run, not just what will benefit them tomorrow or what will be best for them personally.
Confident – Once they make their decision, they stick by it. This doesn’t mean they can’t admit that they may have chosen the wrong path, but they are confident that they were convinced their choice was the best decision at the time.
Well-prepared – They are ready for the consequences of their decisions, whether they are positive or negative. They’ve thought their decision through completely.
So how do we cultivate those traits?
Be educated: know everything there is to know about your business so that you know how your decision will affect every department. Be across the money, the sales, the administration, even if you don’t usually dabble in those areas.
Speak to others: you are not the first person to ever make a difficult decision. There is no need to pour your heart out to everyone you meet, but speaking to fellow business owners and finding out what they decided in similar positions can help you to discover the pros and cons to your possible decisions.
Explore your options: write down a list of pros and cons for your decisions, conduct ‘what if?’ scenarios. Do what you can to explore every option fully, leaving no stone unturned. There’s no need to overthink it and create mountains out of molehills but being thorough is essential.
Have a long-term goal: sometimes, decisions can cause setbacks in the immediate future but will actually benefit your business in the long run. Having the ability to look past the ‘immediate’ to work towards a bigger goal can help you to make the right decision, rather than the easy one.
Whatever you choose, be committed to your choice. Your business needs someone who is decisive and committed to making the right, and sometimes difficult, decisions. You can guarantee that you will make mistakes; it’s part of the process of decision-making.
If your business has some difficult choices ahead of it, we find it’s better not being done is isolation. Like-minded peers can be great sounding boards, have you thought about joining one of our supportive business networking groups? Visit BxNetworking.com