“Half of all decisions fail.” These are the findings from twenty years of studying decision-making at Ohio State. After writing “Taking Aim for Better Decision-Making,” I decided to build a list of things that anyone could use to improve their performance.

1. When faced with a decision, think about your desired outcome rather than facing the decision as a problem to be solved. Problems are negative almost by definition and negative thoughts invoke the constricting “fight or flight” response in us rather than helping us to relax and be inspired and creative. Good decisions need a creative thought process.

2. Don’t think you are Superman or Wonderwoman. Enlisting the aid of others has been proven to improve decision-making. First, multiple voices means more options to choose from. Second, involving others in the process facilitates parallel processing versus sequential processing by the lone decider. Multiple inputs also reduce potential unintended consequences. I am not suggesting that you delegate the decision, rather get as much help in the process as possible. The decision is still yours.

3. Consider the Golden Rule. Over the last few years, ethics has become a hot topic in our society. There are all kinds of initiatives being undertaken in our schools to address this issue, but I am convinced that the easiest and quickest solution is to teach decision makers to, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”

4. Sleep on it. There are few times in life when instant decisions are required. Most decisions can be considered before any action is taken. There are some who will take this as my approval to put off the decision indefinitely which is not what I recommend. Rather, I would encourage you to sleep on a decision before taking any action. This allows your subconcious a chance to participate in the process and possibly provide you with new insights.

5. Always state your decision in a positive frame. Since we have been trained to approach decisions as problems to be solved, it is not surprising that our decision is to not have the problem. I think there are two things at play here. First, we get what we focus on. Second our mind doesn’t recognize the word “not”. As an example, an organization I know had a check list of reasons for why an order was delivered late. This only exacerbated the problem until they changed their focus to measuring and rewarding when orders were on time or ahead of schedule.

6. Trust your gut. This is a tuff one for some of us fact based people to accept, but the truth is that when your gut tells you something is wrong you need to pay attention. At the very least, think about the words of Henry Ford when he said, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.” Something in you doesn’t believe you can make this decision work.

7. Tell me why. Traditional decision-making focuses on how to make decisions and it results in only a fifty percent success rate. I am convinced that you will make better decisions if you focus on why you are making a particular decision. There is research that suggests you will have better results if you can elaborate your decision-making process for each decision.

8. Begin Now. Aristotle said, “Well begun is half done.” Begin the implementation of your decision immediately with the one small thing you can do right now to move you toward the desired outcome.

If you would like to learn more about decision-making, check out “Taking Aim for Better Decision-Making” on our website (Available February 26, 2007).

Copyright Bob Cannon/The Cannon Advantage, 2007. All rights reserved.

About the Author:

Bob Cannon helps visionary leaders improve performance and profitability. He is the author of the new book “Taking Aim for Better Decision-Making”, available at http://www.cannonadvantage.com Bob can be reached at (216) 408-9495 or [email protected]

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