Taking right decision at right time

a)Any decision that you take will never make everyone happy some are bound to be dissatisfied. b)It is difficult to identify whether the positive outcome of the decision will outweigh the negative effects

However, these do not mean that you should stop taking decisions. Rather you should revert to the decision making techniques so that you can take the right decision almost always. The decision making techniques are:

1)Pareto Analysis: The basic of this technique is 20% work and 80% benefit. This technique helps you to choose the most important changes. The basic of this technique is to find changes for having maximum benefits. To begin with, you need to make a list of the changes that you should make and then score them. The change that gets the maximum score should be the first one to be tackled and it will give you maximum benefit. You can stop bothering about the changes which have got lower scores.

2)Grid Analysis: The basic of this technique is choosing best alternative from many. This technique you should use only when you have many good alternatives to choose from. Thus you should use it when you are in a situation where you cannot find a clear decision. For using this tool you need to right the options in a row format and the factors in column format. Then score each row and column combination, weigh these scores and you would get the best decision.

3)Decision trees: If you are in a dilemma about choosing the right one among several courses of action, decision trees can help you. To use the decision tree you need to first draw a small square representing the decision that you need to make. From this square now you should draw lines and right the solutions over those lines. At the end of each line write the result that you think might happen. If you feel that the results of any solution is uncertain, then make a small circle.

4)Paired Comparison Analysis: Through this tool you can understand the importance of available options relative to each other. It is especially useful when you do not have any objective data for your support. With the help of this tool you can select the solution that will give you most benefit. For optimum utilisation of this tool, you should compare one option with another one. After comparing give a score to the option which you think is the important one.

5)PMI: It is always better to check beforehand whether a situation will really help you or not. For that it is important to know the pros and cons of the decision. PMI would come to your help here. The full form of PMI is ‘Plus Minus Interest’ and for making the right decision, you should write under ‘Plus’ all the positive results that might come out of the decision. Under ‘Minus’ jot down the negative effects. Under the column ‘Interesting’ write down the implications and outcomes of these decisions.

6)Six Thinking Hats: It is another important technique since it helps you to look at one decision from various perspectives. It also helps you become a good decision maker since it forces you get out of your normal thinking process and think ‘differently’. Also it helps you to understand the complexity of the decision and identify various issues and see the opportunities lying within the decisions.

A good decision maker not only makes good progress in career, but is also regarded as a good leader. This is because he or she can use the decision making skill in solving problems. However, you need to remember some vital points for decision making also regarding decision making.