Business Decision Making Checklist
Business decision making is a strategically important process that requires business planners to consider a number of factors influencing the final decision. A convenient tool for making efficient judgements and considering available solutions is the business decision making checklist. In this article we will describe the key steps for making better business decisions. It will be helpful for business owners, analysts, managers and planners who need to take action and develop effective solutions.
Below we give you the key steps of the business decision making checklist.
- Be Consistent and Don’t Rush into Things
- List Your Ideas
- Get Advice From the Outside
- Ask questions
- Why will my solutions work?
- Why they are better than others?
- Who won’t like those solutions and why?
- Will I get the most out of the solutions?
- Is there a way and need to improve or update the solutions?
- Test your ideas
- Take a step back
- Take action
Getting rushed into things is one of the biggest mistakes of many people trying to make the best business decisions in their lives. Instead of being in a hurry you need to be consistent and try to carefully think over your considerations. Effective business decision making requires you to use the brainstorm method to consider and revise your ideas each morning during 3 days. You will see that each new morning will bring you new feelings and considerations. Going through the mornings will help you review your thoughts from different perspectives, identify weaknesses and strengths of each one and choose the best business ideas that can later turn into the final decision.
You’re likely to generate numerous ideas and solutions. You don’t know yet which one is best and really fits into effective business decision making. Making a list of your ideas will help you categorize all the solutions and options you have generated. Once created this list will help you focus on each of the ideas and consider the pros and cons. Ideally, for making a better decision on your business, you need to make a list of possible ideas, prioritize them, and then sort and categorize the prioritized ideas by business importance, urgency and efficiency.
To make the best decisions, it is strongly recommended to involve one or several individuals in assisting you with matching and choosing your solutions. You can ask your partner, co-worker, entrepreneurs or family member to review your solutions and make their own judgement. Perhaps, they will see something you couldn’t see before because for example they have a wider experience, better knowledge or just view the things from different angles or in different lights. Advice from the outside will provide recommendations and suggestions that may help you analyze the pros and cons and reach the best decision making.
Asking hard questions helps people see things differently and find new ways for improvement. For example, you can ask yourself these questions:
Your answers will help you analyze the selected solutions and find any hurdles to better business decisions.
It would be great if you could test your solutions and see what happened. For example, you try to use computer software to create a model of your decision and calculate potential outcome. If this option seems to be too complicated for you, then you can play the scenario of your idea with people involved. This will require you to use your creativity and imagination.
Try to leave your problem and then think about something else and get relaxed. For example, you can play your favourite game, read some interesting book, talk to your friends, or just get some sleep. This will help you abstract away from the problem and let your brain feel rested. Then new energy will give you new thoughts and solutions and perhaps a better idea will be generated in your mind.
The final step of the business decision making checklist refers to taking action. As your idea has been thought out and all the pros and cons have been considered, now you can make the final judgement and start implementing your decision.
