4 Strategies to Help Business Leaders Improve and Accelerate Their Decision-Making Process Making business decisions isn't so hard with these key strategies.
By Slava Podmurnyi Edited by Chelsea Brown
Key Takeaways
- Four strategies business leaders can use to confidently make quality decisions
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Would it be correct to assume that the whole path of your decision-making process today is based on data? Of course.
However, senior executives need to make much effort to draw reasonable conclusions from these data. Eighty percent of them face the challenge of weighing too much information when seeking solutions. With a number of other responsibilities and tasks we need to do, how can we also make the right decisions?
This guide is put together to help you improve your decisions.
Related: These Decision-Making Tactics Can Help You Formalize Your Process and Make Better Choices
How to accelerate your decision-making process
Evaluating a solution when dealing with some challenge goes beyond just checking a few options. A meaningful review looks at the bigger picture, ensuring the data fits well and all possible answers are taken into account. So, what should you consider before making a really good decision?
AI and computer vision
Artificial intelligence isn't a new strategy, but it's still something that business leaders should pay attention to. Besides automating repetitive tasks and analyzing large amounts of information, you can use it to nail down a decision quickly and with strategic insights based on real data. As for computer vision, this field of AI is used to interpret and understand information from visual sources such as images and videos.
With expanding such AI capabilities, organizations consider data as the greatest resource for their business decisions above intuition. Given this, it's natural that 79% of companies are already using AI systems to resolve matters.
Product-oriented economy
We know that a product-oriented era is happening now in the tech world. Companies leverage off-the-shelf tools almost everywhere — from holding daily meetings and organizing tasks to developing tech solutions and making decisions. To give you an idea, the global market size of SaaS is expected to reach $232 billion USD by 2024 compared to $197 billion USD in 2023.
But what is the bad side here for decision-makers?
Software products don't always keep in view all aspects of your challenge. When using them, you face the limitations provided in the settings, which directly means restricting the options for generating and implementing your specific business decision. This is when software tools with customization capabilities are considered to be the best solutions.
Cybersecurity resilience
Your business is run to increase, and so is your data. Having more data in your company's ecosystem requires the most current decisions on methods for its structuring, storage and security.
Another point to consider is that any decision starts with understanding and gauging associated cybersecurity risks. And that's the issue. Suppose you are about to integrate new software, but the existing protection practices are outdated to keep all the data secure. It turns out that your restrictions on the choice of cybersecurity measures lead to restrictions on the decision about new software deployment.
That's why 66% of CIOs plan to increase investments in cybersecurity techniques. By building a robust cybersecurity strategy, executives pave the way for seamless search and implementation of their decisions.
5 Hows framework
You may have heard of the 5 Whys technique. It was described by Taiichi Ohno from Toyota Motor Corporation to search for the causative-consecutive coordination underlying a particular problem. By asking yourself five times why any problem arose, you get to the point.
Try a familiar approach when seeking the best options during the decision-making process. Ultimately, not all obvious solutions are worth it to apply. Ask yourself five times "how?" and find hidden opportunities that may have been overlooked initially.
Related: How to Make Faster and Better Business Decisions
So, what will a new decision-making mechanism look like?
Now that we explored which strategies will help you navigate the perfect business decisions, let's dive into three steps to take when using them:
1. Check if your data is current
The initial step to establishing a good decision is making sure the information gathered is up-to-date and ready to be processed by AI tools. That means you'll have to conduct a thorough data audit, ensuring accuracy and relevance. Additionally, consider the source credibility and validity of the information. This stage sets the foundation for robust, informed decision-making processes.
2. Experiment with low-risk scenarios
It's okay to doubt the correctness of the chosen decision. However, you can test your hypotheses, assumptions or options on a smaller scale with lower risks. Validate your choices, modify your tactics, and raise your performance by experimenting and learning.
3. Evaluate and follow-up
Examine the outcomes against your initial projections. Even in the event of an almost perfect alignment, convene a dynamic brainstorming session with your team, and consider if there's a way to improve your solution.
Finding the perfect decision may seem like navigating a labyrinth full of challenges. But fear not, as the journey can be smooth and effortless with the right tools and techniques.
The strategies outlined above offer a roadmap for accelerating the choice of solutions. Follow them, and you'll find yourself confidently making decisions that align with your goals and aspirations.
Related: How to Use the Right Data to Make Effective Business Decisions
