How can I make good decisions I won't regret in the future?

What advice do you have so that I don’t have regrets about decisions I made that were not as good as they could have been?

-Manager

Dear Manager,

It’s great that you have decisions to make. In hindsight, it’s possible to see that some decisions were imperfect but that doesn’t mean you could have known that at the time or that you should punish yourself for it after. Predicting the future is hard!

Oftentimes, worse than making the wrong decision is not making a decision at all. No decision is a decision. When you don’t decide, you lose out on the opportunity you once had.

Let’s talk about decision making you can feel good about. What makes a good decision—even before you have the perspective to know that it was also the right decision?

The best decision is:

Informed (based on data)

Timely (not too late and not too early)

Aligned (with corporate and business priorities)

Scaled (proportional to the business importance)

As a manager, you should know what decisions are being made or need to be made in your organization. And you should work to train your teams and orgs so they can make effective decisions. Successful decision-making isn’t just about speed or outcome, but empowering others to make the best decisions for the team.

Having a framework for effective decision making can help. I learned about the RACI model when I was at Bay Networks, and I still use it today. The first step is to clarify what the decision is and when it must be made. Write it down. Then, implement RACI, an acronym that delineates the necessary stakeholders in a decision. This outlines the person who is:

• Responsible. Who will decide? Remember, decision-making needs to be moved down to the lowest competent level. If that’s not done, it means you’re not delegating enough.
• Approves. Who will ratify or veto? This is the person who delegates the work to the “R”.
• Consulted. These people do not have the right to make the decision, but you have the obligation to get their input before the decision is made, and you want to know what they have to say.
• Informed: Who has to be informed about the decision? Always err on the side of informing too many people rather than too few.

Using this model can help you make decisions faster and implement them more effectively. Once you decide, move on. There will be times when you wish you had a chance to do it over, or the realization that it didn’t go totally right, but don’t ponder the "what ifs". Instead, try to learn from them and put those lessons into the wisdom stack for the next time.

When it comes down to the fundamental elements of good decision making, it’s about making them and moving on.

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