Creating a Decision-Making Framework

Decisions, decisions. We all have to make them constantly. Everywhere we turn, there seems to be some type of decision to make.

When it comes to higher-stake scenarios, decision-making can be daunting. One can easily get overwhelmed, or even worse, become paralyzed by fear and the reluctance to take action. This is where having a clear decision-making framework in place can prove invaluable. When the overwhelm threatens to paralyze you into inactivity, you will already have a process of steps in place that will help you arrive at a clear and best answer.

I like to think of it as providing structure. Although some people may say or feel that they rally against structure in lieu of absolute freedom, I believe that structure is a vital tool that helps entrepreneurs and managers especially to effectively stay in line and on track.

In a nutshell, decision-making frameworks help by providing you with conceptual structures and principles for integrating the economic, social, ecological, legal, and institutional dimensions of a decision—and the impacts each decision will have. They help you come to the best decision possible based on having all of this necessary and well-rounded, big-picture information. While each individual’s decision-making framework may look a bit different (only you can choose what is most effective and helpful to you), they generally are similar in that they have common elements.

A few of these common elements include:

·     problem identification and formulation

·     identification of clear goals

·     pinpointing key questions that will help develop a scope of the problem or question

·     having processes for knowledge-building in place (and using them to find more data for decision making)

Developing a decision-making framework helps you avoid the overwhelm that can come with big choices. It also allows you to stay focused on the most important task at hand, and then the next most important task once that is completed, and so on. This step-by-step process is like the trail of breadcrumbs you need when you are lost in the woods. Rather than panic, you simply have to focus on that next breadcrumb, then move on to the next, and eventually, following that clear line (step by step) will lead you out of the woods into a clearing (or in our case, a clear decision). 

I’ll leave you with a few elements that I have found invaluable in my own decision-making framework, hoping that will aid you on your journey as well.

Timeboxing

Timeboxing may sound complicated and fancy, but all it really comes down to is you sitting down, opening your day planner, and “boxing” out a block of time that you’ll spend on a specific task today or in the future. The twist is: You ONLY have this allowed amount of time, so instead of working on the job until it’s done, you now have this clock counting down your permitted time. You’ll be amazed how much more on-task you become!

Understanding your agenda for the day

As mentioned before, breaking things down into a realistic and smaller scope—taking them step by step—is crucial to a successful decision-making framework. A to-do list for each day can help you focus on each item and also provides a surprisingly rewarding sense of accomplishment as you tick off each item.

Prioritizing

Directly related to the to-do list for each day is prioritizing. While making my list of goals and objectives, I like to place them in order of importance, tackling those I consider the most important and time-sensitive first. You might want to find a sweet spot in identifying 3-5 main goals of the day and honing in on those. Any more, and it could become too much and interrupt focus.

But again, you must feel out what works best for you. (And yes, that’s one more decision for you to make!)