As a service business owner, you rely on a skill set to help you run your business. If I were to ask you what that skill set is, you’d probably list “vision-casting,” “delegation,” and “hiring” as three of the big ones.
But a lot of service business owners would completely overlook one of the most important skills that every owner needs: The ability to make decisions quickly.
Decision-making is a critical skill but it’s often one that owners lack, or have not sufficiently developed.
• Good decision-makers love making decisions; bad decision-makers avoid making decisions
• Good decision-makers make decisions confidently; bad decision-makers put off decision-making or make decisions with little confidence
• Good decision-makers embrace their decisions and run with them; bad decision-makers second-guess their decisions
What kind of decision-maker are you?
Why People Have Trouble Make Decisions (And What You Can Do About It)
It can be difficult to make decisions because you’re worried that you’ll make the wrong decision, and many also worry that the cost of that wrong decision will be catastrophic. However, it is my observation that failing to make a decision is often costlier than making a wrong decision. It’s better to make a fast decision, act on it, and course-correct than it is to put off making a decision at all.
(And just because I said “make a fast decision” doesn’t mean I’m suggestion you make hasty, foolish, unconsidered decisions!)
How To Make Good, Fast, And Smart Decisions
In my book The Secrets Of Business Mastery, I explain how to make good, fast, and smart decisions through something I call “The Decision-Making Criteria”. It’s a framework of questions that you ask to help you evaluate all potential decisions and decide what’s right for you.
So, start with your decision (perhaps write it at the top of a blank sheet of paper). Then answer each question and record your answers…
1. What does it do for customer needs?
2. What does it do for employees?
3. What does it do for the company?
4. Does it overcome a weakness?
5. Does it provide a return on investment?
6. How much time will it take?
7. What does it do for the owners?
Think through your answer then put the paper aside for a few hours (or ask someone else to review it), then come back to the paper and adjust your answers. Often, those few extra hours of thought will help to elaborate on the answers.
From here, you should have a clear choice to any decision you need to make.
Now, Make More Decisions
With this critical tool, you can start making more decisions. In fact, you should make a list of all the decisions you need to make and start working through that list, perhaps starting with the least mission-critical decisions and training yourself to make rapid decisions as you work your way up to the more important decisions.
P.S. – Has success been elusive and you feel stuck? Book your FREE Strategy Session NOW!
P.S.S. – Troy got the knowledge and the know-how to make his business move forward by attending one of our events. Read what he had to say:
