You're in charge of people management. How do you ensure your strategic decisions are the right ones?

2 Involve your team and stakeholders

You don't have to make strategic decisions alone. In fact, you can benefit from involving your team and other relevant stakeholders in the process. By seeking their input, feedback, and perspectives, you can gain valuable insights, ideas, and information that can improve your decision quality and outcomes. You can also foster a culture of collaboration, trust, and engagement, and increase your team's commitment and ownership of the decisions. You can use various methods to involve your team and stakeholders, such as brainstorming, surveys, interviews, focus groups, or workshops.

3 Analyze the situation and alternatives

Once you have gathered enough information and opinions from your team and stakeholders, you need to analyze the situation and the alternatives. You need to identify the problem or opportunity, the root causes and effects, the criteria and constraints, the risks and benefits, and the assumptions and implications of each option. You can use various tools and techniques to help you with your analysis, such as SWOT, PESTLE, decision matrix, or scenario planning. You should also consider the ethical, social, and environmental aspects of your decision.

4 Choose the best option and communicate it

After you have evaluated the alternatives, you need to choose the best option that meets your vision and goals, satisfies your criteria and constraints, maximizes your benefits and minimizes your risks, and aligns with your values and principles. You should also be prepared to justify your choice with evidence and logic, and to address any potential objections or concerns. Once you have made your decision, you need to communicate it clearly and effectively to your team and stakeholders, explaining the rationale, the expected results, and the action plan.

5 Implement and monitor the decision

The final step of strategic decision making is to implement and monitor the decision. You need to assign roles and responsibilities, allocate resources, set deadlines, and establish metrics and indicators to track and measure the performance and impact of your decision. You also need to provide guidance, support, and feedback to your team, and ensure that they have the skills, tools, and motivation to execute the decision. You should also monitor the external and internal factors that may affect your decision, and be ready to adapt or revise it if necessary.