5 Questions to Optimize Decision Making

I just wrapped up a six week group coaching program for a client who wanted to help key leaders develop a more non-anxious presence for challenging situations—including those situations involving big decisions.

Here’s the assignment I gave each participant — an assignment you can do, too. Think about an upcoming decision you’re making. Take five minutes now to jot down the questions you'll ask to optimize the outcome. Those questions represent the system you've created, and it's good to annually revisit that system and make appropriate adjustments.

Here's what's common across all clients I work with: they’re all at a defining moment with big decisions to make. While each decision has one or two situation-dependent variables, they all require answering five key questions:

  1. What are you optimizing for?

  2. What are the range of possible outcomes?

  3. Has someone else looked under the hood?

  4. Do you need to hit pause?

  5. Are you confident in the decision?

If you’d like to learn more about the five questions and how you can incorporate them into your decision-making system, check out this video I posted to Linkedin.

To the list of five questions I’ll add two important reminders on decision making from leaders who certainly made a lot of big decisions over the course of their careers. The first is from Ray Dalio, whose book Principles includes an outstanding summary of the systems he developed in growing Bridgewater Associates to become one of the world’s largest hedge funds:

“Whatever circumstances life brings you, you will be more likely to succeed and find happiness if you take responsibility for making your decisions well instead of complaining about things beyond your control.”


The second reminder comes from Bob Iger, the executive chairman of the Walt Disney Company. His book – The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company – fascinates me because the lessons are connected to decisions he made around Disney’s defining moments.

 
Iger - Make the Decision.png
 

And one more thing…

Getting grounded each morning before you invite the world’s seven billion people into your space will definitely help you optimize decision making—and a number of other activities throughout your day. To learn more, check out this blog I wrote about how I start every day. You'll also find a post earlier this month titled 'Own your morning” on my Instagram feed. Finally, I just sat down with Bronwyn to jam on this super important topic. You’ll find our ‘protein rich’ (thanks for that phrase, Bronwyn) six minute conversation on her IGTV channel. Be sure to check it out, and then listen to her recent podcast The Power of a Morning Ritual for even more inspiration!

Alison Bricker