Making good decisions in uncertain times
- sciart0
- Jul 14
- 2 min read
Excerpt: "We are living with a lot of uncertainty right now. There are some economic headwinds, though hiring has remained robust. There are significant legislative changes on the horizon. Ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are creating global tensions. The rise of generative AI has led to concerns about the future of many jobs and industries.
The difficulty of predicting the future complicates decision-making for people at every level of an organization from low-level employees who may be angling for a promotion or thinking of a career change to high-level leaders who have to set strategy and select tactics for an entire organization. How can you make good decisions in this environment?
PROCESS NOT OUTCOME
The first thing to remember when making decisions in any environment (but particularly when there is a lot of turbulence) is that you have to focus on the process you use to choose rather than whether the outcome is the one you wanted. Begin by thinking about what information is important for the decision. Determine whether there are experts or team members you should consult along the way. Develop a method for combining information in advance if you can.
For complex decisions, this process probably requires some tools to help you keep track of the relevant information.
Use spreadsheets and dashboards to organize data. Make lists of decision criteria and the weight that information should have in the ultimate choice so that you don’t lose track of important factors. Refer to these tools along the way and don’t rely only on your memory."