Here's how you can enhance your decision-making skills and make effective choices in the training industry.

1.Conduct thorough needs assessments to understand learner needs & organizational goals. Research best practices & industry trends. 2.Leverage data from past programs, learner feedback & industry benchmarks to inform your choices. 3.Analyze all available options, including delivery methods, content providers & technology platforms. 4.Two minds (or more!) are better than one. Involve stakeholders, subject matter experts & even potential learners in the decision-making process. 5.Consider the ripple effects. Choose solutions that are scalable, sustainable & align with your organization's long-term training strategy. 6.Not all choices will be perfect. Pilot new approaches on a smaller scale to learn & adapt before full-scale implementation.

Frequently, we become overly invested in a certain type of solution and filter all our decisions through that lens. Instead of asking, "What are all the possible solutions?" we ask, "How can ADDIE (or collaboration or technology or whatever) be used more effectively to solve this problem?" We should never become so wedded to anything that we stop asking if it works or if it will work in this particular situation. Don't be afraid to consider the possibility that everything you think you know is wrong.

Your ability to make decisions depends on many factors, among them your personality type, level of education and prior life/work experience. Thus, gaining knowledge about the decision-making process and what impacts it will enhance your basic decision-making skillset. Specifically, behavioral psychology will offer you further insights on our degree of rationality, how (prior) mindsets influence perception of opportunity and risk and how biases may lead you astray. Decision-making skill is a generic term which is not specific for the “training industry”, but increased knowledge about the decision-making process will help you decide on a good path.

One way to analyse different options is to create a matrix. List each option down the left hand side. In columns across, list reasons that impact whether you would say yes or no, and give each of these a different weighting depending on their importance. For example, let's say you want to choose between different IT trainers. List the trainers down the left hand side. Across the top, list the reasons you may buy. For example: accredited training ; cost ; known trainer ; includes license ; provides recordings. Then assign a different weight depending on which is most important - eg 20% ; 15% ; 5% ; 50% ; 10% Tick each column and add up the percentages to find the best option. By the way, it's a great beginner's assignment for Excel...

You can enhance your decision making skills by increasing your knowledge, gleaning insight from others and examining the options connected to the circumstances. Collecting new information and listening to other perspectives can support your interest in making better choices and help you cultivate effective decision making skills in the training industry.