How can you use the Decision-Making Wheel to evaluate your decisions?

1 What is the Decision-Making Wheel?

The Decision-Making Wheel is a circular diagram that divides the possible options you have into segments, like a pie chart. Each segment represents one option and is labeled with its name and a score. The score is calculated by rating the option on several criteria, such as cost, feasibility, impact, risk, and satisfaction. The criteria can vary depending on the type of decision you are making and the factors that matter to you. The higher the score, the more favorable the option is.

2 How to create a Decision-Making Wheel?

Creating a Decision-Making Wheel involves several steps. First, you need to identify the decision you want to make and the options you have. For example, if you want to decide where to go for vacation, your options could be beach, mountain, city, or countryside. Next, you should choose the criteria you want to use to evaluate your options. For instance, budget, travel time, activities, weather, and safety could all be criteria. Then rate each option on each criterion on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest; for instance, if you prefer warm weather, you could rate beach as 10 and mountain as 5 on the weather criterion. Afterward, add up the ratings for each option and divide by the number of criteria to get the average score; if beach has a total of 45 and there are 5 criteria, then its average score is 9. Finally, draw a circle and divide it into segments according to the number of options. Label each segment with the option name and its average score; for example, one segment could be labeled beach (9) while another could be mountain (6).

3 How to use the Decision-Making Wheel?

To use the Decision-Making Wheel, you need to compare the scores of the different options and see which one has the highest score. The highest score indicates the most preferred option based on your criteria. However, you should not rely solely on the score, as it may not reflect all the nuances and trade-offs of your decision. You should also consider other factors, such as your intuition, emotions, values, and feedback from others. The Decision-Making Wheel is a tool to help you organize and visualize your decision, not to make it for you.

4 What are the benefits of the Decision-Making Wheel?

The Decision-Making Wheel offers several advantages that can improve your decision-making process and outcome. It encourages you to clarify your goals and priorities by defining and ranking criteria, while reducing bias and emotion with a structured and objective way to evaluate options. Additionally, it allows you to explore different perspectives and scenarios by changing and adjusting criteria and ratings. Furthermore, it helps you communicate and justify your decision by showing the evidence and reasoning behind your choice.

5 What are the limitations of the Decision-Making Wheel?

The Decision-Making Wheel is not a perfect tool and has some limitations that you should be aware of. For instance, it can oversimplify complex and dynamic decisions by assuming criteria and ratings are fixed and accurate. Additionally, it can ignore qualitative and subjective aspects of decision-making by focusing on quantitative and measurable factors. Furthermore, it can create a false sense of certainty and confidence by implying that the highest score is the best option, as well as discourage creativity and innovation by limiting your options to the ones you already know and have data for.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?