Making decisions at work and having good decisions making skills are highly prized by all organisations. I have 9 questions to ask yourself when making decisions at work. These form a framework, a decision making process, that will keep you making GOOD decisions at work.

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The first question to ask when making decisions at work is “How much time do I have to make the decision?” With a day, there is lots that you can do and a lot of questions to ask yourself when making decisions. With 5 minutes, the questions you can ask are much more limited. You nearly always have more time to make a decision than you (or the other person) thinks.

How to make decisions quickly, in my view, is about following a process, a framework. Following a framework will feel clunky and slow to start with as you learn the steps. After a few weeks, the process will feel very natural. After a few months, you won’t realise you are following it out of habit. 

The next of the questions to ask yourself to make great decisions at work is “What specifically is the desired outcome?” Being really clear on what is needed is huge in terms of how to make decisions faster. You also get better decisions. Start asking questions to really understand what the decision you are making or being asked to make is really trying to achieve. Once you have this really clear, everything else in the decision making process will be a lot quicker and easier. 

The third of the questions to ask when making decisions is “What is the context of the decision?” The context of the decision will literally change what you decide. Think about authorising a hiring request. In a growing business your decision would be yes. In a struggling company, your decision is very likely to be no. 

The fourth question when making decisions is the last of the core questions that you should always ask yourself regardless of the type of decision you are making. 

Then I share 5 very valuable questions to ask for the more complex decisions, the ones with larger impacts or those with only bad options to choose from. 

The 9th of the questions to ask yourself when making decisions at work is the one missed by many decision makers. Missing this question nearly always causes a lot more problems later on and can be pretty embarrassing. Always ask this question whenever you need to make any significant decision. 

If you have any questions on “9 Powerful Questions to Ask Yourself When Making Decisions At Work” please email me at [email protected] and I will get back to you. 

Jess Coles

enhance.training