10 Tips To Help You Make Better Business Decisions

Miša Hennin

Good morning!

Have you ever made a business decision that came back to bite you 😬? Don't worry - you're not the only one! So many issues can arise during the decision-making process that sometimes it can feel almost impossible to do things right 😭.

Inspired by the difficulties decision makers face, our content writer @Caitlin Hughes wrote this brilliant blog post. She considers the reasons we struggle when making decisions and proposes solutions to overcome them. Here are Caitlin's top ten tips for making better decisions:

1. Gather and Centralize Information
2. Prioritize
3. Consider Your Options With a Decision Tree
4. Plan Your Projects
5. Support Your Team
6. Invite Input From Others
7. Embrace Feedback
8. Analyze Using SWOT and PESTLE
9. Address Conflict in a Controlled Environment
10. Build a Healthy Workplace Culture

To find out more about each of these, head over to the full article where you can also read the 3 types of business decisions managers have to make, the consequences of poor decision making and FAQs 😍.

We'd love to hear your tips and experiences in making business decisions. Do you have any of your own tips to share? Do you disagree with any of those above? Let us know in the comments below 😃.

Best,

Miša

Andrew Lapidus

Thanks for sharing, @Miša, and thanks for taking the time to create such an interesting deep dive into business decision making, @Caitlin Hughes!

Your piece on the importance of prioritization reminds me of this excellent insight from @Andres D'Andrea. Also: a SWOT matrix played an important role in our choice of community platforms last July, so I was happy to see you giving that method some airtime!

Thanks again!

Best,

Andrew

Admin BSF.company

https://community.meister.co/discussion/794/10-tips-to-help-you-make-better-business-decisions

Pretty insightful piece of content @Miša! Bookmark worthy stuff we have in this one.

Definitely, learning to make better decisions is a lifelong journey, and that post by @Caitlin Hughes certainly helps a lot. Thanks for sharing it 👍 I believe it deserves a promotion 📈⬆

Thanks also for the tag @Andrew Lapidus and the link to the matrix idea.

Best regards and happy weekend 🥳

Andrés D'Andrea.

Lina

thanks for sharing! I have to admit, my go-to decision-making technique is a good old pros and cons list😅

Caitlin Hughes

Thanks for putting this in the spotlight, @Miša 🙂 It's nice to read the positive feedback - glad it's getting some love! There's just so much that can be said on this topic and I'm looking forward to reading more of everyone's tips. @Andres D'Andrea, the prioritization method you shared in your post is really helpful - there's nothing more satisfying than a tidy Agenda! Thanks for highlighting that, @Andrew Lapidus 🙂

Admin BSF.company

I'm glad you liked it @Caitlin Hughes 👍

Great post btw...

Best regards.

Miša Hennin

Hey @Jörg Koper as you run a consulting agency I wondered whether you might have any insights here?

Joerg Koper

Hi @Miša 👋🙂

Thank you for mentioning me here. First, I have to say that my agency is not active in classic, economic management consultancy. We specialize in corporate identity, process optimization and new work. However, decisions also have to be weighed and made in these areas 😊

We also work with the Eisenhower Matrix and the SWOT analysis. But we also like to use the so-called Business Model Canvas and have developed our own framework, which we are not writing about publicly at the moment.

In my view, the most important thing in business decisions is a holistic approach. Both the pros and cons of a topic must be carefully weighed, everyone involved must be listened to carefully, and in the end the decision must be made and pursued confidently.

This also includes good self-management on the part of everyone involved. I have seen many good projects fail due to a lack of teamwork and chaotic working methods of individual participants.

In my view, a big mistake is also the attitude that has been propagated for some time, that every company, no matter how small, can only be successful with a "Think Big" attitude.

Here it is necessary to come to one's senses again, to say goodbye to so-called "Mentors" who collect a lot of money for putting people into a state of euphoria and seeing them fail miserably in the end, because "Think Big" usually leads to a completely wrong perception of one's own situation and reality.

By the way...the blog post of @Caitlin Hughes is great 😊

Best, Jörg

Admin BSF.company

In my view, the most important thing in business decisions is a holistic approach. Both the pros and cons of a topic must be carefully weighed, everyone involved must be listened to carefully, and in the end the decision must be made and pursued confidently.

☝ I like this quote @Jörg Koper!

Strongly agree with you on this one, there's no such thing as "one size fits all" in business ops.

In my experience, I've seen many organizations struggle with finding a good balance between standardization of procedures and flexibility when chaos strikes.

Constant feedback loops and the teachings of Eric Ries in his book The Lean Startup are great antidotes for those issues.

👇 I like this one too:

This also includes good self-management on the part of everyone involved. I have seen many good projects fail due to a lack of teamwork and chaotic working methods of individual participants.

Team cohesion is definitely a "must" for a company of any size that hopes to be successful. Great leadership is required for that to be true.

I enjoyed reading your thoughts, thanks for sharing 👍

Joerg Koper

https://community.meister.co/discussion/comment/2736#Comment_2736

Good Morning mate 👋😉

Your additions round off my thoughts very well. Much appreciated @Andres D'Andrea 🙏

Miša Hennin

Hey @Jörg Koper, decisions reign everywhere which sucks for me because I am terrible at making them 😭.

Thanks for adding the Business Model Canvas to the list of tips!

Although I understand you are not writing about your personal framework, I wonder if you can share why you felt the need for developing your own framework? Or which aspects other frameworks and solutions weren't sufficiently addressing?

Your point on good self-management reminds me of @Andres D'Andrea' recent Book Club contribution. He also mentions the importance of unified team work/ leadership and organization.

Best,

Miša

Joerg Koper

https://community.meister.co/discussion/comment/2802#Comment_2802

Hi @Miša,

next time I'm in the UK I'll give you a Coaching, so you can make decisions in a relaxed state of mind 😉

Our personal framework is in a progress at the moment. The most important reason for us to develop our own framework was the combination of consulting and coaching, in which we in turn also include our own solution approaches. We work on a 5-step approach at the moment, which we call the "5-knot model".

To be honest, I bought the book after the recommendation of @Andres D'Andrea, and now I am very excited to read it as soon as possible 😋

Best, Jörg

Miša Hennin

Hey @Jörg Koper that would be AMAZING 🤩.

Sounds really interesting - thank you for sharing your thought process 😁. And super cool to hear you bought the book! Andrés has added some really developed ideas to that post...I'm heading over there now, might see you there!

Best,

Joerg Koper

https://community.meister.co/discussion/comment/2845#Comment_2845

OK Miša,

we'll have a coaching-appointment when Barbara and I are back in UK 😋

See you in Andrés post 👋

Best, Jörg

Lina

Great food for thought here! Thanks for these expert insights 😊

Vasile Stoica

Decision-making is crucial for business success, but it can be challenging.

I particularly appreciate the emphasis on gathering and consolidating information. It's easy to get overwhelmed with data, but having a well-defined process for collecting and organizing it can make a significant impact. In my experience, consolidating customer feedback on a single platform allowed us to identify recurring problems and make informed improvements to our product.

I'd also add that it's essential to be flexible and adaptable. Even the best-laid plans can go wrong, so being able to change direction is crucial.

Has anyone else experienced the negative consequences of poor decision-making in their business? I'm curious to hear your stories and how you addressed them.