Basics of decision making – Essentials for managers

We all make decisions- in almost everything we do. Decision making means choosing from various options. At work, you may be faced with decisions regarding how to improve your team’s productivity or service, or how to help meet your organization’s goals. As the person in charge of your team, there are times when you’ll encounter issues that require a decision and act on your own authority. At other times, decisions may be handed down to you by your superiors. In either case, you are responsible for carrying out the decisions

1. Many of your decisions at work will involve how to use resources

for example, deciding

Which jobs to do (and in which order)
Which people to assign to the jobs
Which tools/equipment to use
Which schedule to follow (time is a resource, too).

2. However, not all your decisions directly involve resources.

For example, you might have to decide how to deal with someone who’s consistently late for work, or what must be done to comply with safety regulations.

There’s one thing your workplace decisions have in common –they involve and affect the people you supervise. People are resources, but they are also individuals with unique skills, personalities, thoughts viewpoints, strengths, weaknesses and limitations. All these factors must be considered when making decisions. That’s why decision making can be a real challenge!

At time, your job may seem to involve decision making and little else. As the decisions you make will affect how your team performs, it’s important to have a decision- making approach you can rely on.