10 Tips for Making Decisions in Uncertain Situations

10 Tips for Making Decisions in Uncertain Situations

Helping Concrete Thinkers Make Decisions in Ambiguous Conditions

Concrete thinkers have it rough these days, particularly when it comes to decision-making. In a world where market conditions (and life circumstances!) change quickly and you have to navigate ambiguous situations, these 10 tips can help you make the jump from black-and-white thinking to clearer decision-making.


5 LinkedIn Tips. 4 Dos and 1 Don’t

Unchecked assumptions increase uncertainty because they lead to false conclusions and limit your options. Quantity does not always equate with quality.

Is more networking activity what you really want? Or do you want more results with less activity? Toss out meaningless metrics like number of connections, endorsements, or questions answered. Instead use metrics that you know directly tie to business results, such as:• LEADS GENERATED• JOINT VENTURE/STRATEGIC PARTNER PROSPECTS GENERATED• QUALIFIED JOB CANDIDATES CONTACTED• POTENTIAL EMPLOYERS SUCCESSFULLY CONTACTED• INTERVIEWS SCHEDULED• SPEAKING OPPORTUNITIES GARNERED•• PUBLICITY OPPORTUNITIES CREATED


TIP 2. Stretch Out of Your Comfort Zone to Encourage Growth & Innovation!

How? 1) If you’re a xed thinker, you make all your projects conform to the skills you already have. This is a surere way to stunt growth and kill innovation.2)2) You try to keep reality under your control and inuence, which a) is impossible, and b) creates all sorts of pressure not only on you but also on your employees!

WARNING: Fixed thinking messes up decision-making!


TIP 3. Learn from the Past

Uncertainty can be frightening to many people, but uncertainty is an opportunity to look into the past.

Past experiences remind you that you have the creativity, condence, and character to walk into the unknown and thrive.

Use the past when considering tough decisions in the pdecisions in the present.


TIP 4. Ask Profound Questions

Illuminate unseen dynamics to inspire a new way of working by asking profound questions, such as:• HOW DO I/YOU FEEL? Facts become clouded when feelings build up.• WHAT HAPPENED? The answers to this question air out the information along with perceptions of what took place.• WHAT DID OR CAN MY COMPANY OR I LEARN? Pluck value from the experience with this question, which shifts your perspective into observation and reection.

Profound questions can spark team breakthroughs in thinking, company reinventions!


TIP 5. Listen Deeply

Listening deeply is what follows the profound questions you ask. When you feel confused in the face of decisions, or when others involved in decision-making have ideas to offer, listen deeply.

• SAY AND THINK NOTHING. And we mean nothing. Quiet your mind, keep it open, and offer no comment. Just listen. Don’t evaluate.

• DON’T RUSH IT. Listen intently for 10 minutes, or 30 if you can make it. If you hit a silent patch, wait. Don’t ll in the silence.

• USE THE ANSWERS YOU HEAR in the context of your thought-ful approach to decision-making.


TIP 6. Shift Perspectives

Decisions are better when diverse views converge into approaches or solutions that can be held coopera-tively by more people. Anytime you’re faced with making a difficult decision, explore different perspectives.

You will make better decisions if you’re exible about how you see, think, and approach the decision.


TIP 7. Move from Inertia to Action

Moving from inertia to action means taking what you’ve learned—the ideas swimming around in your brain—and putting them into action. The unfamiliar looks scary at rst, but don’t let that keep you from taking action!


TIP 8. Embrace Your HeartYour heart brings a powerful form of intelligence to decision-making, so use it!

You can try, if you insist, to use your mental will to override your feelings about a decision. You can get away with it for a while, but sooner or later, you’ll experience burnout or feel disheartened. Paying attention to whether your heart is in a decision is the simplest way to test your commitment to a course of action and and to nalize which option you will ultimately choose.

Test the options or decisions you’re making by listening to your heart.

Do you feel fully engaged, half-hearted, or numb?


TIP 9. Look Forward to the Unpredictable!

Can you think of ANYTHING that’s actually certain and predictable? (Other than taxes, haha.) Nope? Didn’t think so.Not much is predictable or certain, but take heart!

Even die-hard linear thinkers can be creative and fast on their feet.

Embrace inherent uncertainty as an opportunity to be creative!

Reject fear over the unknown and focus your energies and decision-making energies on discovering creative possibilities.


TIP 10. Approach Risk Differently

Humans tend to discount the probability of future events. If a risk isn’t immediate, we tend to ignore it. The result? We’re unprepared!So take a different approach to risk. Look at possible risk as though you are dealing with it today. Make it real, then plan for it.

Move a uffy, may-or-may-not happen risk out of the clouds and into your decision-making process.


http://bit.ly/DecisionMakingForDummies

Leadership & Management

10 Tips for Making Decisions in Uncertain Situations