EMILY (00:08)

Let's first define decision making. It's the process of selecting the best option among several alternatives to achieve a particular goal or objective. Decision making is an important part of how we respond to information. Now, there's a reason that we're calling this out, and it's not to be Captain Obvious.

Emphasis on the information part of this equation because good decisions, which are decisions that get us the outcomes we want, involve gathering information, analyzing data, looking at alternatives, and weighing consequences of different choices. It's critical thinking and problem solving all rolled into one. Surprisingly, that's not how most of us are taught to make decisions. Hmm.

Has anyone ever taught us how to make a decision? Here's an interesting statistic. 62% of employees want more autonomy, including making more decisions in areas that affect them. Yet the research from McKinsey suggests that only 20% of people think their organization excels at making decisions.

Even though this same group reports spending more than 30% of their time doing it. What this means is that we know how important decisions are to our job performance and we spend so much of our time on it, but we're ineffective at making the right decisions. The challenge lies in making decisions that are both high quality and quick. And when we're able to do this, it's strongly associated with overall performance at work.

Decision making is an absolutely critical skill that no one really teaches and one that can fuel every aspect of your role as a manager. And the good news is decision making is a skill that can be learned, practiced and improved.