Introduction

Problems, both big and small, are bound to pop up and interfere with your company’s day to day operations. Having a decision making process put in place for your staff to follow can help the company function efficiently and with consistency in these scenarios. While you might expect your staff to be able to problem solve on their own, sometimes stressful or difficult situations arise where it’s important to have a decision making process in place.

Here is a list of the best practices for determining the decision making process for your company according to some experienced managers and leaders.

Have a Decision Making Process

Having an official decision making process might sound like an unnecessary step, but it can be helpful when onboarding and establishing best practices within your company. If everyone is following the decision making process, then you know the best choices are being made. A decision making process helps people learn to think critically, problem solve, and evaluate options they might have missed.

“Sometimes it feels like the most difficult part is actually designing the process itself,” says Alexandre Robicquet, Co-Founder and CEO of Crossing Minds. “It’s something that takes innovation and brain power to make something that works for the entire company. But once it’s rolled out, the process will improve communication, efficiency, and teamwork.”

Take Notes and Records Through the Process

Notes and records can really make a difference in the decision making process. Not only does this step help you organize your thoughts and ideas, but it can help you in the future as you grow and learn through this process too. Using a note taking platform to keep track of your records during the decision making process is a great approach to this step.

“Taking notes and records during the decision making process is a great habit that can promote self awareness and consistency,” says Lilian Chen, Co-Founder and COO of Bar None Games. “This practice becomes second nature after you’ve intentionally worked at making this a habit. It can help when a situation may require multiple people to be on board with the decision making process so everyone is on the same page. Using a note sharing app or program can be a great way for everyone to share their thoughts.”

Identify the Problem(s)

Sometimes the problem is obvious, but even in those cases there are often other issues at hand. Make sure you understand the problem and any other contributing factors that have led to the situation you’re currently facing. This step of identification is often skipped in a rush to find a solution, but the solution may include addressing other problems too.

“Decision making can have roadblocks because the people solving the problem didn’t sit down to identify the problem itself,” says Drew Sherman, VP of Marketing at Carvaygo. “Let’s say there’s too much inventory – instead of automatically assuming too much is being ordered, take a look at the bigger picture. Are you in a slow season? Does marketing need to be amped up during this period? What are the other contributing factors that could be affecting the ‘problem’?”

Gather Related Information

As you start to enter the decision making process, it’s important to make sure you have all related information gathered for reference. This related information is often critical in the next steps of the decision making process and it can help you move forward with more confidence and a full understanding of the situation.

“If the problem is not analyzed from a birds eye view, it’s likely you’ll miss some key factors to consider as you move along the decision making process,” says Patricio Paucar, Co-Founder and Chief Customer Officer of Navi. “Determining the decision making process for your company should involve gathering information so the best, most informed decisions can be made in the future.”

Identify Alternative Options

This step in the decision making process is often a step that can take some serious time and consideration. Alternative options are sometimes obvious while other times it can be a bit of a process to even come up with ideas. Encouraging your staff to think outside of the box and identify both conventional and unconventional solutions during this process is a great practice.

“Encouraging brainstorming and thinking outside of the box can help design some of the best processes,” says Nabeel Abdullah, CEO of Sapphire. “Now, there are deadlines and requirements that have to be met, but it’s important to allow your employees to utilize their creative problem solving methods to think about alternative options that may not have been considered yet.”

Research

Researching is a very important part of the decision making process and it’s definitely something to consider implementing as a step in the decision making process for your company. Learning how to research well is much more than knowing how to type a few terms into a Google search.

“Researching is such a key component of the decision making process for any company,” says Jesse DeBear, Fractional CMO of Renew. “From researching trends and industry news to looking up alternative solutions to a problem, the internet is a great place to find information about the decision process your company is going through. The more evidence and data they have, the better informed the decision will be.”

Weigh Benefits and Drawbacks of Each

It’s not enough to simply list off the possible solutions. Careful consideration should be taken as your company determines their decision for a certain problem or situation. Weighing the pros and cons should be a step that’s navigated with careful consideration and accountability.

“Knowing the risks and benefits of going with each decision is something you should encourage your company to take the time to do,” says Randee Machina, Director of Marketing at Simpli Pleasures. “Careful evaluation should be taken that bias or a preference not to change from the norm isn’t affecting the decision. Just because something’s always been done a certain way doesn’t mean it always has to be done that way.”

Choose a Solution

Choosing a solution shouldn’t be too difficult if you’ve followed the steps above. Using your research, analysis, and communication skills, your company should be able to choose a solution. However, in the case that there’s a divide on which solution to choose, it’s important to have policies in place.

“Choosing a solution is a fairly simple process after researching and weighing the pros and cons, but sometimes you have two options that are equally risky or beneficial and there may be a split vote,” says Matt Masiello, Chief Marketing Officer of Baby Buddha. “In these scenarios, it should be clear who gets to make the deciding call. While some companies push the decision to someone higher up, maybe a team leader, who’s been on the decision making journey for the entire process, be the one to make the final call.”

Take Action

As you conclude the decision making process, you’ll have to put your decision into action. This step requires communication and explanation of the decision to anyone involved with the process. Often, changes and decisions affect more than the initial team of people who navigated  the decision making process.

“It’s really important, as you take action and implement the decision that’s been made, that you’re also informing others of the decision and what it means for the company,” says Brian Munce, Managing Director of Gestalt Brand Lab. “There should be a standard practice for how this takes place. Often, a formal email from a leader or supervisor is an appropriate means of communicating this information but they may defer questions to the key individuals who were involved in the decision.”

Review the Decision

Review the decision and the process it took to get there before moving on to the next thing. It’s important to make sure you’re reviewing how the decision was made, what issues came up, and (most importantly) how the actions and decisions during the process could be improved. This step is not about pointing fingers or self depreciation – it’s about developing and maintaining a growth mindset for future decision making situations.

“Even if a great decision is made, there are often things that you can see in hindsight that weren’t obvious in that moment,” says a representative of Illumix. “Teaching your company to evaluate their own decisions and learn how they can improve for the future is a great way to continuously improve in the decision making process for your company.”

Conclusion

Decisions are an important part of running a company in any industry. Whether your company has lacked a decision making process in the past or you’ve realized that your current process isn’t working like it used to – these tips will hopefully help you add or remove components of your process so your staff can make the best decisions possible. From researching and comparing to reviewing potential mistakes or missteps that could’ve been avoided, there are options for any company looking to implement a stronger decision making process.

Hopefully this article has helped you learn a bit about the best practices for determining the decision making process for your company.

Burns, E., & Brush, K. (2020, March 23). What is a decision-making process? SearchBusinessAnalytics. Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://www.techtarget.com/searchbusinessanalytics/definition/decision-making-process

Drucker, P. F. (2016, October 17). The effective decision. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://hbr.org/1967/01/the-effective-decision