Decision Making Process

Learning about the decision-making process is the first step to making better decisions in life and at work. Better decisions mean a happy and balanced life.

A sound decision is the product of a holistic decision-making process that assesses the facts, knowledge, alternatives, consequences, and tradeoffs of the problem, using a scientific, analytical, and consensus-based approach.

What is the decision-making process?

It is the cognitive process of identifying and choosing alternatives based on your beliefs, principles, values, and preferences.

The process produces a final choice, which may or may not lead to action. Sometimes it’s rational, other times it’s not.

A good process does not always guarantee a good outcome, and a bad decision-making process doesn’t always mean a bad outcome.

The process passes through three stages: identifying, exploring, and executing.

Decision-Making Process Steps

1: Identifying

The first step is to identify the right problem.

For example, imagine you are moving to a new city and need to find a new home. You are deciding whether to buy a house or an apartment.

Instead, the question may be: do I buy a house or rent it?

Not asking the right question will ultimately lead to the wrong answer and waste your time.

2: Exploring

This is the most important stage. It starts with exploring all the alternatives. All the choices have the same importance at this stage.

Alternatives answer the question of “how”, while objectives answer the questions of “what” and “why”. This differentiation is essential in decision-making.

3: Executing

After doing your homework it’s time to select your final decision and execute it.

Conclusion

Decision-making is a skill that can be learned. Knowing how to make better decisions will lift a load off your shoulder and lift your quality of life with it.

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