How to Make Decisions Faster
To help you enhance your decision-making speed and efficiency, we’ve gathered insights from twelve leaders, including CEOs, Founders, and other professionals. Their strategies range from balancing instinct with information to setting time limits and embracing imperfection. Dive into their unique perspectives to learn how to make quicker, more effective decisions as a leader.
- Balancing Instinct with Information
- Aligning Decisions with Organizational Goals
- Applying Experience, Intuition, and 80/20 Rule
- Embracing Data-Driven Decisions and Delegation
- Prioritizing Decisions and Building Team Relationships
- Leveraging Industry Trends for Quick Decisions
- Using Design Criteria and Relevant Data
- Harnessing Intuition and Emotional Intelligence
- Weighing Pros and Cons for Quick Decisions
- Following Intuition and Learning from Failures
- Applying Chunking Strategy for Decision-Making
- Setting Time Limits and Embracing Imperfection
Balancing Instinct with Information
I rely heavily on my gut instinct, but I also make sure it’s backed by data. I’ve found that over time, experience builds intuition, which can be a powerful decision-making tool. However, I also believe in the power of data.
So, I quickly gather all the relevant information, analyze it, and then trust my gut to make the final call. To speed up this process, I try to stay informed about my industry and keep a pulse on my team’s work. This way, I already have a solid foundation of knowledge when decisions need to be made. It’s all about balancing instinct with information.
Lou Reverchuk
Co-Founder and CEO, EchoGlobal
Aligning Decisions with Organizational Goals
As the founder of a non-profit startup, making quick decisions is a big part of our game plan. To start, I gather all the information I can from my team and stakeholders. These internal and external perspectives are vital to decision-making.
Then, I prioritize key factors that align with our organizational goals, staying true to our mission and vision. This clarity enables me to identify viable options. Drawing from past experiences, I’ve learned to trust my instincts while weighing potential risks and benefits.
Staying open-minded is key! Embracing change and being receptive to new ideas helps me respond quickly to whatever comes our way. As a leader, I’m always learning and growing. Feedback from my team is like gold, and I’m not afraid to look in the mirror and learn from both successes and failures.
Passion drives me, and I’m dedicated to our cause. Together, we’re a tight-knit crew, collaborating and innovating to make a positive difference in the communities we serve.
Lauren Click
Founder, Let’s Go Compost
Applying Experience, Intuition, and 80/20 Rule
Making fast decisions as a leader relies heavily on two aspects: my experience and my intuition. My years as a CEO have presented countless scenarios that have enriched my decision-making repository. Drawing from past situations, I’m often able to extrapolate potential outcomes, which speeds up the decision process.
Trust in my intuition is also key. With experience comes a honed instinct that I rely on when time is of the essence. This gut feeling, backed by knowledge and experience, often guides me to make quick decisions confidently.
Additionally, I practice the “80/20 rule” or Pareto Principle, where I aim to make a decision once I have about 80% of the necessary information. Waiting for 100% information could lead to delays and missed opportunities. However, it’s important to ensure the missing 20% isn’t critical.
Lastly, I understand that not every decision will be perfect. If I make a mistake, I take it as a learning opportunity, adjust my course, and move forward.
Vikrant Shaurya
CEO, Authors On Mission
Embracing Data-Driven Decisions and Delegation
Personally, I use a combination of the following approaches to increase my decision-making speed:
Data-Driven Methodology: The collection of pertinent information and insights provides a firm basis for informed decision-making. I prioritize gaining prompt access to accurate information in order to objectively appraise the situation.
Delegation and Permission: As a leader, empowering and delegating authority to competent team members facilitates rapid decision-making at multiple levels. Having faith in their knowledge and discernment enables swift responses to challenges and opportunities.
Decisive Mindset: Acknowledging that not all decisions will be flawless is necessary to cultivate a decisive mindset, but prompt action is essential. I encourage myself and my team to embrace a culture of continuous improvement by learning from outcomes.
Michael Callahan
Founder and VP, The Callahan Law Firm
Prioritizing Decisions and Building Team Relationships
I prioritize the decisions that need to be made quickly. Not all decisions are created equal. Some decisions are more important than others, and some decisions can wait. I focus on making the quick decisions that need to be made, and I defer the decisions that can wait.
I build relationships with my team members. The better I know my team members, the better I can understand their perspectives, and the better I can make decisions that are in the best interests of the team. I practice making decisions quickly. The more I practice, the better I get at it. I make decisions in my personal life and in my work life. I also challenge myself to make decisions quickly in situations where I don’t have all the information I need.
Brenton Thomas
CEO, Twibi
Leveraging Industry Trends for Quick Decisions
Having a deep understanding of our industry trends and the market helps me make fast decisions for my business and know how to provide the best services for our customers. It is a learning curve to learn how to trust your gut, but having a deeper understanding of the major market changes makes it easier to make faster decisions.
Loren Howard
Founder, Prime Plus Mortgages
Using Design Criteria and Relevant Data
To make fast decisions as a leader, a streamlined approach is relied upon. A set of design criteria that align with ultimate goals is created, ensuring they are objective and relevant. By establishing specific criteria, such as market need and cost-efficiency for a new product, options can be swiftly evaluated.
Additionally, prioritizing the gathering of relevant data and insights enables informed decisions to be made efficiently. Ultimately, this systematic process allows for quicker and more confident decision-making as an entrepreneurial leader.
Tobias Liebsch
Co-Founder, Fintalent.io
Harnessing Intuition and Emotional Intelligence
I’m a big believer in the power of intuition, and I use mindfulness techniques to develop this natural instinct. This allows me to quickly evaluate my options and trust my gut.
To make faster and more effective decisions, I have cultivated emotional intelligence to handle my emotions and reactions in various situations. The better I manage them, the less likely I am to be overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, or doubt.
This regular practice helps me clear the noise, focus on the core issues, and make confident decisions quickly.
Bayu Prihandito
Psychology Expert, Life Coach, Founder, Life Architekture
Weighing Pros and Cons for Quick Decisions
A strategy that helps me make decisions quicker is to weigh the pros and cons. Business decisions need to be made at lightning speed. However, making impulsive decisions doesn’t serve anyone well. That’s why I quickly weigh the positives and negatives of the available options.
I also consider how the results will impact the company in the long run. This strategy is smart and doesn’t involve a lot of risks. That’s why I take a couple of minutes when there’s an important business decision to make. After all, one must decide something after knowing the outcome. Weighing the pros and cons does that for me in a super effective way.
CJ Lloyd, CEO, Utah’s Best Home Pros
Following Intuition and Learning from Failures
In my opinion, the way a person thinks puts a lot of strain on the decision-making process. For me, personally, I just weigh the pros and cons and follow my gut. I simply analyze my options, choose the best of the worst, then carry on until I have to make another decision. That’s it.
When I’m second-guessing, I check in to see whether I’m pleased because if not, I’m not making the best decision(s) and am headed in the wrong direction. Even if it makes no sense logically, if my intuition tells me to do something, I do it. For me, it works out.
As a leader, what I do is try my best not to second-guess while I continue to carry out the decision I made. It’s all about recognizing that I will sometimes make bad decisions, one way or another. I’ve trained myself not to punish myself, or anyone for that matter, for making a poor choice. It’s all about learning from failures, not from successes.
Samantha Hawrylack
Founder, How To FIRE LLC
Applying Chunking Strategy for Decision-Making
When it comes to making fast decisions as a leader, a strategy called “chunking” is employed. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by the entire problem, it is broken down into smaller, manageable parts. This allows for quicker decisions by focusing on one aspect at a time.
By addressing smaller challenges and making incremental progress, momentum is created and confidence in the decision-making process is built. Chunking enables the maintenance of agility and the driving of results while avoiding analysis paralysis and propelling both the individual and the team forward.
Matias Rodsevich
CEO, PRLab
Setting Time Limits and Embracing Imperfection
Establish a hard time limit for yourself and stick to it. This can help you zero in on what really matters and avoid paralysis by analysis. Before making any major choices, consider how they might affect your life and the lives of people close to you.
People spend too much time and energy trying to achieve the impossible by doing nothing wrong. If you try to do too much, you’ll quickly become overwhelmed and give up on many of your goals. It’s more productive in the long run to aim towards imperfection and accept the fact that you will fail at certain things.
In addition, you may organize your thoughts and make a better decision with the help of decision-making tools like pros-and-cons lists and decision trees.
Aleksandar Ginovski
Career Expert, Resume Expert and Product Manager, Enhancv
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