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How to Enhance Your Decision-Making Skills as a Leader

• 14 Mar 2024

As a leader, you make countless decisions—from whom to hire and which projects to prioritize to where to make budget cuts.

If you’re a new leader, acclimating to being a decision-maker can be challenging. Luckily, like other vital business skills, you can learn how to make better decisions through education and practice.

Here’s a primer on why decision-making skills are crucial to leadership and six ways to enhance yours.

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Why Are Decision-Making Skills Important?

While decision-making is built into most leaders’ job descriptions, it’s a common pain point. According to a 2023 Oracle study , 85 percent of business leaders report suffering from “decision distress”—regretting, feeling guilty about, or questioning a decision they made in the past year.

When distressed by difficult decisions, it can be easy to succumb to common pitfalls , such as:

• Defaulting to consensus
• Not offering alternatives to your proposed solution
• Mistaking opinions for facts
• Losing sight of purpose
• Truncating debate

By defaulting to the “easy answer” or avoiding working through a decision, you can end up with outcomes that are stagnant at best and disastrous at worst.

Yet, decision-making is a skill you can sharpen in your leadership toolkit. Here are six ways to do so.

6 Ways to Enhance Your Leadership Decision-Making Skills

1. involve your team.

One common pitfall of leadership is thinking you must make every decision yourself. While you may have the final judgment call, enlisting others to work through challenging decisions can be helpful.

Asking for peers’ input can open your mind to new perspectives. For instance, if you ask your direct reports to brainstorm ways to improve your production process’s efficiency, chances are that they’ll have some ideas you didn’t think of.

If a decision is more private—such as whether to promote one employee over another—consider consulting fellow organizational leaders to approach it from multiple angles.

Another reason to involve your team in the decision-making process is to achieve buy-in. Your decision will likely impact each member, whether it’s about a new or reprioritized strategic initiative. By helping decide how to solve the challenge, your employees are more likely to feel a sense of ownership and empowerment during the execution phase.

Related: How to Get Employee Buy-In to Execute Your Strategic Initiatives

2. Understand Your Responsibilities to Stakeholders

When facing a decision, remember your responsibilities to stakeholders. In the online course Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability —offered as a Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business (CLIMB) program elective or individually—Harvard Business School Professor Nien-hê Hsieh outlines your three types of responsibilities as a leader: legal, economic, and ethical .

Hsieh also identifies four stakeholder groups—customers, employees, investors, and society—that you must balance your obligations to when making decisions.

For example, you have the following responsibilities to customers and employees:

• Well-being: What’s ultimately good for the person
• Rights: Entitlement to receive certain treatment
• Duties: A moral obligation to behave in a specific way
• Best practices: Aspirational standards not required by law or cultural norms

“Many of the decisions you face will not have a single right answer,” Hsieh says in the course. “Sometimes, the most viable answer may come with negative effects. In such cases, the decision is not black and white. As a result, many call them ‘gray-area decisions.’”

As a starting point for tackling gray-area decisions, identify your stakeholders and your responsibilities to each.

Related: How to Choose Your CLIMB Electives

3. Consider Value-Based Strategy

If you make decisions that impact your organization’s strategy, consider how to create value. Often, the best decision provides the most value to the most stakeholders.

The online course Business Strategy —one of seven courses comprising CLIMB's New Leaders learning path—presents the value stick as a visual representation of a value-based strategy's components.

By toggling each, you can envision how strategic decisions impact the value you provide to different shareholders.

For instance, if you choose to lower price, customer delight increases. If you lower the cost of goods, you increase value for your firm but decrease it for suppliers.

This kind of framework enables you to consider strategic decisions’ impact and pursue the most favorable outcome.

4. Familiarize Yourself with Financial Statements

Any organizational leadership decision you make is bound to have financial implications. Building your decision-making skills to become familiar and comfortable with your firm’s finances is crucial.

The three financial statements you should know are:

• The balance sheet , which provides a snapshot of your company’s financial health for a given period
• The income statement , which gives an overview of income and expenses during a set period and is useful for comparing metrics over time
• The cash flow statement , which details cash inflows and outflows for a specific period and demonstrates your business’s ability to operate in the short and long term

In addition to gauging your organization’s financial health, learn how to create and adhere to your team or department’s budget to ensure decisions align with resource availability and help your team stay on track toward goals.

By sharpening your finance skills , you can gain confidence and back your decisions with financial information.

5. Leverage Data

Beyond financial information, consider other types of data when making decisions. That data can come in the form of progress toward goals or marketing key performance indicators (KPIs) , such as time spent on your website or number of repeat purchases. Whatever the decision, find metrics that provide insight into it.

For instance, if you need to prioritize your team’s initiatives, you can use existing data about projects’ outcomes and timelines to estimate return on investment .

By leveraging available data, you can support your decisions with facts and forecast their impact.

Related: The Advantages of Data-Driven Decision-Making

6. Learn from Other Leaders

Finally, don’t underestimate the power of learning from other leaders. You can do so by networking within your field or industry and creating a group of peers to bounce ideas off of.

One way to build that group is by taking an online course. Some programs, including CLIMB , have peer learning teams built into them. Each term, you’re sorted into a new team based on your time zone, availability, and gender. Throughout your educational experience, you collaborate with your peers to synthesize learnings and work toward a capstone project—helping you gain new perspectives on how to approach problem-solving and decision-making.

In addition to learning from peers during your program, you can network before and after it. The HBS Online Community is open to all business professionals and a resource where you can give and receive support, connect over topics you care about, and collaborate toward a greater cause.

When searching for courses, prioritize those featuring real-world examples . For instance, HBS Online’s courses feature business leaders explaining situations they’ve encountered in their careers. After learning the details of their dilemmas, you’re prompted to consider how you’d handle them. Afterward, the leaders explain what they did and the insights they gained.

By listening to, connecting with, and learning from other leaders, you can discover new ways to approach your decisions.

Gaining Confidence as a Leader

Taking an online leadership course can help you gain confidence in your decision-making skills. In a 2022 City Square Associates survey , 84 percent of HBS Online learners said they have more confidence making business decisions, and 90 percent report feeling more self-assured at work.

If you want to improve your skills, consider a comprehensive business program like CLIMB .

It features three courses on foundational topics:

• Finance and accounting

And three courses on cutting-edge leadership skills:

• Dynamic Teaming
• Personal Branding
• Leading in the Digital World

Additionally, you select an open elective of your choice from HBS Online’s course catalog .

Through education and practice, you can build your skills and boost your confidence in making winning decisions for your organization.

Are you ready to level up your leadership skills? Explore our yearlong Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business (CLIMB) program , which comprises seven courses for leading in the modern business world. Download the CLIMB brochure to learn about its curriculum, admissions requirements, and benefits.

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Problem-solving in Leadership: How to Master the 5 Key Skills

The role of problem-solving in enhancing team morale, the right approach to problem-solving in leadership, developing problem-solving skills in leadership, leadership problem-solving examples.

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What’s the Role of Problem-solving in Leadership?

• Getting to the root of the issue:  First, Sarah starts by looking at the numbers for the past few months. She identifies the products for which sales are falling. She then attempts to correlate it with the seasonal nature of consumption or if there is any other cause hiding behind the numbers. 
• Identifying the sources of the problem:  In the next step, Sarah attempts to understand why sales are falling. Is it the entry of a new competitor in the next neighborhood, or have consumption preferences changed over time? She asks some of her present and past customers for feedback to get more ideas. 
• Putting facts on the table:  Next up, Sarah talks to her sales team to understand their issues. They could be lacking training or facing heavy workloads, impacting their productivity. Together, they come up with a few ideas to improve sales. 
• Selection and application:  Finally, Sarah and her team pick up a few ideas to work on after analyzing their costs and benefits. They ensure adequate resources, and Sarah provides support by guiding them wherever needed during the planning and execution stage. 
• Identifying the root cause of the problem.
• Brainstorming possible solutions.
• Evaluating those solutions to select the best one.
• Implementing it.

• Analytical thinking:   Analytical thinking skills refer to a leader’s abilities that help them analyze, study, and understand complex problems. It allows them to dive deeper into the issues impacting their teams and ensures that they can identify the causes accurately. 
• Critical Thinking:  Critical thinking skills ensure leaders can think beyond the obvious. They enable leaders to question assumptions, break free from biases, and analyze situations and facts for accuracy. 
• Creativity:  Problems are often not solved straightaway. Leaders need to think out of the box and traverse unconventional routes. Creativity lies at the center of this idea of thinking outside the box and creating pathways where none are apparent. 
• Decision-making:  Cool, you have three ways to go. But where to head? That’s where decision-making comes into play – fine-tuning analysis and making the choices after weighing the pros and cons well. 
• Effective Communication:  Last but not at the end lies effective communication that brings together multiple stakeholders to solve a problem. It is an essential skill to collaborate with all the parties in any issue. Leaders need communication skills to share their ideas and gain support for them.

How do Leaders Solve Problems?

Business turnaround, crisis management, team building.

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Ace performance reviews with strong feedback skills..

Master the art of constructive feedback by reviewing your skills with a free assessment now.

Why is problem solving important?

What is problem-solving skills in management, how do you develop problem-solving skills.

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• Leadership and Decision-Making: Empowering Better Decisions

A key task in leadership and decision-making is finding ways to encourage employees at all levels to make better decisions on the organization’s behalf in negotiations and beyond, according to a new book.

By Katie Shonk — on April 29th, 2024 / Leadership Skills

What is the role of leadership in an organization? Contrary to the traditional image of a sole individual steering the ship, leaders have an obligation to empower everyone in their organization to make sound and ethical decisions in negotiations and other contexts, write University of California, Berkeley, professor Don A. Moore and Harvard Business School professor Max Bazerman in their new book, Decision Leadership: Empowering Others to Make Better Choices .

During a virtual event moderated by Harvard Business School professor Deepak Malhotra , Moore and Bazerman shared principles on leadership and decision-making from their book. “The thing that leaders can most affect are the decisions of the people they lead,” said Bazerman; consequently, “we’re interested in the decisions not just of the leader but of all of those people who are influenced by the leader.”

Don’t Neglect Ethics

“Great leaders create the norms, structures, incentives, and systems that allow their direct reports, organizations, and the broader stakeholders to make decisions that maximize collective benefit through value creation,” Moore and Bazerman write in Decision Leadership . They emphasize the importance of “setting the stage”—creating environments in which people can make good decisions.

As a result, the leadership and decision-making book focuses a great deal on ethics, noted Malhotra during the book talk. He asked if effective leadership thus must embody a certain type of leadership, such as moral leadership or ethical leadership . “Is there such a thing as being a great leader when you’re not thinking about maximizing collective benefit or value creation?” Malhotra asked.

Claim your FREE copy: Real Leaders Negotiate

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According to Moore, leaders who ignore the ethical implications of their decisions face profound moral, legal, financial, and other risks. “To pretend that business decisions don’t have ethical implications ignores a key dimension on which decisions will be evaluated,” he said. “Effective leadership must consider the wider consequences of any decision,” which is by definition an ethical consideration.

“If we think about some of the failed leaders of the past decade,” added Bazerman, “whether it’s Adam Neumann [of WeWork] or Elizabeth Holmes [of Theranos] or Travis Kalanick [Uber], we see people who dramatically influenced the behavior of others.” Such leaders caused harm in part “because their leadership was so devoid of the ethical dimension,” Bazerman said. In particular, these leaders failed to consider “how to help people make ethical decisions that will make society better off.”

Beyond Changing Hearts and Minds

Decision Leadership offers advice on how leaders can create cultures, environments, norms, and systems that will promote high-quality ethical decisions within their organizations. As such, the authors argue that the real task of leaders is not just to change “hearts and minds”—that is, persuasion—but to fundamentally change what people do. Wise leaders, they argue, design the organization to steer people toward better, more ethical decisions.

“We have nothing against leaders who inspire change by influencing culture, changing how others think and feel,” said Moore. But Decision Leadership offers more useful, less costly tools for prompting better decisions, he said.

Many of these tools draw on the concept of “nudges” offered by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein in their book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness . Nudges steer people toward better decisions rather than relying on persuasion. Moore and Bazerman gave the example of organizations that make it convenient for employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19, such as offering the vaccine at work, instead of trying to convince the skeptical of the benefits of being vaccinated.

Rather than leaving hearts and minds out of the equation, Bazerman said, he and Moore aimed to add a consideration of “strategies that will get the behavior done, even if people’s hearts and minds aren’t changed at all.” In recent decades, the tech industry and many governments have embraced the world of behavioral economics and nudges. Bazerman predicted that in the next decade, more business will make use of these tools to spur wiser decisions. In so doing, organizations will move in the direction of collective leadership and away from a more autocratic leadership style .

Experiments in Leadership and Decision-Making

During the talk, Moore, Bazerman, and Malhotra discussed several proven strategies for prompting better leadership and decision-making in organizations, including creating a culture in which employees feel empowered to speak up when they see something wrong, finding ways to encourage leaders to be more open to accepting advice, and running experiments to test the likely success of a decision rather than basing it on intuition.

Google runs thousands of experiments every year to test new ideas and initiatives, Bazerman noted, but “a lot of companies are behind the curve on thinking systematically about how to learn over time.” That’s a strategic mistake, he said: “If you have a company, and you have an idea about how to change some behavior at your 22 offices across the globe involving millions of customers, why wouldn’t you want to test a new idea on 10,000 people first so that you can find what works, tweak it, and make it better over time?”

What leadership and decision-making strategies have you found to be effective in prompting better decisions in your organization?

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No Responses to “Leadership and Decision-Making: Empowering Better Decisions”

2 responses to “leadership and decision-making: empowering better decisions”.

A brief and concise article which I think could be easily understood by students in the Public Administration discipline….

This is a great, circumspect article that draws attention to the bigger picture in negotiations: the broader and more diverse field of motives and the interests that drive those involved in decision-making. Also noteworthy is awareness if the ethical factor, so often neglected in business decisions and so often detrimental as a result.

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Understanding how to arrange the meeting space is a key aspect of preparing for negotiation. In this video, Professor Guhan Subramanian discusses a real world example of how seating arrangements can influence a negotiator’s success. This discussion was held at the 3 day executive education workshop for senior executives at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

Guhan Subramanian is the Professor of Law and Business at the Harvard Law School and Professor of Business Law at the Harvard Business School.

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Problem Solving and Decision Making - Two Essential Skills of a Good Leader

Problem solving and decision making are two fascinating skillsets. We call them out as two separate skills – and they are – but they also make use of the same core attributes.

They feed on a need to communicate well, both through questioning and listening, and be patient and not rushing both processes through. Thus, the greatest challenge any leader faces when it comes to solving problems and decision making is when the pressure of time comes into play. But as Robert Schuller highlights in his quote, allowing problem-solving to become the decision means you’ll never break free from the problem.

“Never bring the problem-solving stage into the decision-making stage. Otherwise, you surrender yourself to the problem rather than the solution.”—Robert H. Schuller

So how does a leader avoid this trap? How do they ensure the problem solving doesn’t become the be-all and end-all?

The 7 steps of Effective Problem Solving and Decision Making

A vital hurdle every leader must overcome is to avoid the impulsive urge to make quick decisions . Often when confronted with a problem, leaders or managers fall back in past behaviours. Urgency creates pressure to act quickly as a result, the problem still exists, just side-lined until it rears its ugly head again.

Good problem solving opens opportunity. A notable example of this is the first principles thinking executed by the likes of Elon Musk and others. Understanding the fundamentals blocks of a process and the problem it’s creating can lead to not just the problem but accelerate beyond it.

So, to avoid the trap, and use problem solving and decision making effectively , you should embody yourself with the following seven steps.

1.      What is the problem?

Often, especially in time-critical situations, people don’t define the problem. Some label themselves as fire-fighters, just content with dowsing out the flames. It is a reactionary behaviour and one commonplace with under-trained leaders. As great as some fire-fighters are, they can only put out so many fires at one time, often becoming a little industry.

The better approach is to define the problem, and this means asking the following questions:

• What is happening? ( What makes you think there is a problem?)
• Where is it taking place?
• How is it happening?
• When is it happening?
• Why is it happening?
• With whom is it happening? (This isn’t a blame game…all you want to do is isolate the problem to a granular level.)
• Define what you understand to be the problem in writing by using as few sentences as possible. (Look at the answers to your what, where, why, when, and how questions.)

2.      What are the potential causes?

Having defined the problem it is now time to find out what might be causing the problem. Your leadership skills: your communication skills need to be strong, as you look to gather input from your team and those involved in the problem.

Key points:

• Talk to those involved individually. Groupthink is a common cause of blindness to the problem, especially if there is blame culture within the business.
• Document what you’ve heard and what you think is the root cause is.
• Be inquisitive. You don’t know what you don’t know, so get the input of others and open yourself up to the feedback you’ll need to solve this problem.

3.      What other ways can you overcome the problem?

 Sometimes, getting to the root cause can take time. Of course, you can’t ignore it, but it is important to produce a plan to temporarily fix the problem. In business, a problem will be costing the business money, whether it be sales or profit. So, a temporary fix allows the business to move forward, providing it neutralises the downside of the original problem.

4.      How will you resolve the problem?

At this stage, you still don’t know what the actual problem is. All you have is a definition of the problem which is a diagnosis of the issue. You will have the team’s input, as well as your opinions as to what the next steps should be.

If you don’t, then at this stage you should think about reassessing the problem. One way forward could be to become more granular and adopt a first-principles approach.

• Break the problem down into its core parts
• What forms the foundational blocks of the system in operation?
• Ask powerful questions to get to the truth of the problem
• How do the parts fit together?
• What was the original purpose of the system working in this way?
• Name and separate your assumptions from the facts
• Remind yourself of the goal and create a new solution

Solve hard problems with inversion

Another way is to invert the problem using the following technique:

1. Understand the problem

Every solution starts with developing a clear understanding of what the problem is. In this instance, some clarity of the issue is vital.

2. Ask the opposite question

Convention wisdom means we see the world logically. But what if you turned the logical outcome on its head. Asking the opposite questions brings an unfamiliar perspective.

3. Answer the opposite question

It seems a simple logic, but you can’t just ask the opposite question and not answer it. You must think through the dynamics that come from asking the question. You're looking for alternative viewpoints and thoughts you've not had before.

4. Join your answers up with your original problem

This is where solutions are born. You’re taking your conventional wisdom and aligning it with the opposite perspective. So often the blockers seen in the original problem become part of the solution.

5.      Define a plan to either fix the problem permanently or temporarily

You now know the problem. You understand the fix, and you are a position to assess the risks involved.

Assessing the risks means considering the worst-case scenarios and ensuring you avoid them. Your plan should take into the following points:

• Is there any downtime to implementing the solution? If so, how long, and how much will it cost? Do you have backup systems in place to minimise the impact?
• If the risk is too great, consider a temporary fix which keeps current operations in place and gives you time to further prepare for a permanent fix.
• Document the plan and share it with all the relevant stakeholders. Communication is key.

Here we see the two skills of problem solving and decision making coming together. The two skills are vital to managing business risks as well as solving the problem.

6.      Monitor and measure the plan

Having evolved through the five steps to this stage, you mustn’t take your eye off the ball as it were.

• Define timelines and assess progress
• Report to the stakeholders, ensuring everyone is aware of progress or any delays.
• If the plan doesn’t deliver, ask why? Learn from failure.

7.      Have you fixed the problem?

Don’t forget the problem you started with. Have you fixed it? You might find it wasn’t a problem at all. You will have learnt a lot about the part of the business where the problem occurred, and improvements will have taken place.

Use the opportunity to assess what worked, what didn’t, and what would have helped. These are three good questions to give you some perspective on the process you’ve undertaken.

Problem solving and decision making in unison

Throughout the process of problem solving, you’re making decisions. Right from the beginning when the problem first becomes clear, you have a choice to either react – firefight or to investigate. This progresses as move onto risk assessing the problem and then defining the solutions to overcome the issue.

Throughout the process, the critical element is to make decisions with the correct information to hand. Finding out the facts, as well as defeating your assumptions are all part of the process of making the right decision.

Problem solving and decision making – a process 

Problem solving isn’t easy. It becomes even more challenging when you have decisions to make. The seven steps I’ve outlined will give you the ability to investigate and diagnose the problem correctly.

• What is the problem?
• What are the potential causes?
• What other ways can you overcome the problem?
• How will you resolve the problem?
• Define a plan to either fix the problem permanently or temporarily.
• Monitor and measure the plan.
• Have you fixed the problem?

Of course, this logical step by step process might not enable you to diagnose the issue at hand. Some problems can be extremely hard, and an alternative approach might help. In this instance, first principles thinking or using the power of inversion are excellent ways to dig into hard problems. Problem solving and decision making are two skills every good leader needs. Using them together is an effective way to work.

Become a Wiser Decision-Maker in Just 5 Minutes per Week.

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The SkillsYouNeed Guide to Interpersonal Skills

Making decisions and solving problems are two key areas in life, whether you are at home or at work. Whatever you’re doing, and wherever you are, you are faced with countless decisions and problems, both small and large, every day.

Many decisions and problems are so small that we may not even notice them. Even small decisions, however, can be overwhelming to some people. They may come to a halt as they consider their dilemma and try to decide what to do.

Small and Large Decisions

In your day-to-day life you're likely to encounter numerous 'small decisions', including, for example:

Tea or coffee?

What shall I have in my sandwich? Or should I have a salad instead today?

What shall I wear today?

Larger decisions may occur less frequently but may include:

Should we repaint the kitchen? If so, what colour?

Should we relocate?

Should I propose to my partner? Do I really want to spend the rest of my life with him/her?

These decisions, and others like them, may take considerable time and effort to make.

The relationship between decision-making and problem-solving is complex. Decision-making is perhaps best thought of as a key part of problem-solving: one part of the overall process.

Our approach at Skills You Need is to set out a framework to help guide you through the decision-making process. You won’t always need to use the whole framework, or even use it at all, but you may find it useful if you are a bit ‘stuck’ and need something to help you make a difficult decision.

Decision Making

Effective Decision-Making

This page provides information about ways of making a decision, including basing it on logic or emotion (‘gut feeling’). It also explains what can stop you making an effective decision, including too much or too little information, and not really caring about the outcome.

A Decision-Making Framework

This page sets out one possible framework for decision-making.

The framework described is quite extensive, and may seem quite formal. But it is also a helpful process to run through in a briefer form, for smaller problems, as it will help you to make sure that you really do have all the information that you need.

Problem Solving

Introduction to Problem-Solving

This page provides a general introduction to the idea of problem-solving. It explores the idea of goals (things that you want to achieve) and barriers (things that may prevent you from achieving your goals), and explains the problem-solving process at a broad level.

The first stage in solving any problem is to identify it, and then break it down into its component parts. Even the biggest, most intractable-seeming problems, can become much more manageable if they are broken down into smaller parts. This page provides some advice about techniques you can use to do so.

Sometimes, the possible options to address your problem are obvious. At other times, you may need to involve others, or think more laterally to find alternatives. This page explains some principles, and some tools and techniques to help you do so.

Having generated solutions, you need to decide which one to take, which is where decision-making meets problem-solving. But once decided, there is another step: to deliver on your decision, and then see if your chosen solution works. This page helps you through this process.

‘Social’ problems are those that we encounter in everyday life, including money trouble, problems with other people, health problems and crime. These problems, like any others, are best solved using a framework to identify the problem, work out the options for addressing it, and then deciding which option to use.

This page provides more information about the key skills needed for practical problem-solving in real life.

Further Reading from Skills You Need

The Skills You Need Guide to Interpersonal Skills eBooks.

Develop your interpersonal skills with our series of eBooks. Learn about and improve your communication skills, tackle conflict resolution, mediate in difficult situations, and develop your emotional intelligence.

Guiding you through the key skills needed in life

As always at Skills You Need, our approach to these key skills is to provide practical ways to manage the process, and to develop your skills.

Neither problem-solving nor decision-making is an intrinsically difficult process and we hope you will find our pages useful in developing your skills.

Start with: Decision Making Problem Solving

See also: Improving Communication Interpersonal Communication Skills Building Confidence

Team Dynamics: Problem-Solving and Decision Making

• Teamwork and Team Leadership Table of Contents
• Fostering Communication & Promoting Cooperation
• Problem-Solving and Decision Making
• Handling Conflict
• Dealing with Power and Influence

1. Overview

• Different stages of team development call for different problem solving methods
• Problem solving requires the use of a systematic process
• The appropriate decision making method is determined by the amount of time available for the decision and the impact of the decision
• Effective decision making requires the use of smart techniques

2. Problem Solving in Team Development Stages

3. General Problem Solving Steps

• Defining the problem : phrase problem as probing questions to encourage explorative thinking; make explicit goal statement
• Establish criteria for evaluating the solution : identify characteristics of a satisfactory solution; distinguish requirements from desires
• Analyzing the problem : discover the root cause and extent of the problem
• Considering alternate solutions : brainstorm to generate many ideas before judging any of them
• Evaluate alternate solutions : use ranking-weighting matrix; check for issues/disagreement
• Deciding on a solution :  choose best answer to the problem from among all possible solutions
• Develop action plan : make team assignments with milestones(don’t underestimate time)
• Implementing the action plan : check for consistency with requirements identified in step 2
• Following up on the solution :  check up on the implementation and make necessary adjustments
• Evaluate outcomes and process :  review performance, process, and personal aspects of the solution

4. Decision Making Method Based on Time and Impact

5. Smart Decision Making is Enabled By. . .

• Modeling an open mind and asking for candid opinions
• What elements would you choose to change?
• What changes would you make to solve …?  
• Aligning rewards to team successes to ensure that individuals share what they know
• Ensuring that team members are aware of relevant roles and unique information required for team success
• Charging some team members to assume a position that opposes the team’s preference
• Creating an alternate team that attempts to find errors and weaknesses in the solution
• Using successive rounds of blind voting interspersed with discussions

6. Additional Readings

• Hartnett, T. (n.d). Consensus decision making. Retrieved from http://www.consensusdecisionmaking.org/
• UMass|Dartmouth (n.d.) 7 steps to effective decision making . Retrieved from https://www.umassd.edu/media/u massdartmouth/fycm/decision_ma king_process.pdf
• Sunstein, C.R. (2014).  Making dumb groups smarter.  Harvard Business Review, 92(12), 90-98. 
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• Next: Handling Conflict >>

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More From Forbes

The power of critical thinking: enhancing decision-making and problem-solving.

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Dr. Ron Young, Founder and Board Chair of Trove, Inc . Ron specializes in psychological coaching & transition consulting.

Critical thinking is a fundamental cognitive process that enables individuals to objectively analyze, evaluate and interpret information to make informed decisions and solve complex problems. It involves employing reasoning and logic, questioning assumptions, recognizing biases and considering multiple perspectives. It requires self-monitored, self-directed, self-disciplined and self-corrective thinking. Critical thinking is essential in a world of information and diverse opinions. It helps us see things more clearly and avoid being misled or deceived.

Importance Of Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is crucial in various aspects of life, including education, professional endeavors and personal decision-making. In academic settings, it allows students to comprehend and engage with complex subjects while discerning valid arguments from fallacious ones. In the workplace, critical thinking empowers individuals to analyze problems, devise creative solutions and make informed judgments. In everyday life, it helps individuals navigate an increasingly complex world by making sound choices and avoiding cognitive biases. It is our primary defense against misleading or "spun" information.

Benefits Of Critical Thinking

There are many benefits of critical thinking.

Enhanced Decision-Making

Critical thinking helps us trust our gut feelings and think independently. It enables individuals to make logical and well-reasoned decisions based on evidence and objective analysis. It encourages the consideration of all relevant factors and the evaluation of potential consequences, leading to more informed choices.

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024, effective problem-solving.

Critical thinking facilitates the identification of underlying issues, the generation of innovative solutions and the evaluation of their viability. It encourages individuals to approach problems from different angles and consider various perspectives, increasing the likelihood of finding effective resolutions.

Reduction Of Cognitive Biases

Critical thinking supports self-reflection. It helps individuals recognize and challenge cognitive biases that hinder clear judgment. Individuals can better overcome confirmation bias, groupthink and the availability heuristic (judging the likelihood of an event based on recall of similar events) by understanding and questioning their assumptions and beliefs. It requires a commitment to overcoming the tendency to see the world from a narrow, self-centered perspective.

Enhanced Communication Skills

Practicing critical thinking fosters effective communication by enabling individuals to articulate and defend their ideas with logical reasoning and evidence. It encourages active listening, empathy and the ability to evaluate and respond to counterarguments, leading to more constructive and meaningful discussions.

More United Citizens

Using critical thinking enables citizens to see the whole picture by better protecting against biases and propaganda. It reduces partisanship and a “we/they” mentality.

Cultivating Critical Thinking

How can you cultivate critical thinking?

Be curious and inquisitive.

Foster a mindset of curiosity and an eagerness to explore and understand the world. Talk with people from different backgrounds, cultures, political affiliations or religions. Ask probing questions, seek new perspectives and engage in active learning. Learn from people who hold different viewpoints.

Develop analytical skills.

You can do this by learning to break down complex problems into manageable parts, recognize patterns and identify cause-and-effect relationships. Remember, not all opinions are equal, and some are flat-out wrong.

Evaluate information.

Develop skills to evaluate the credibility and reliability of information sources. Be aware of bias, assess evidence and differentiate between fact and opinion. Guard against "swallowing information whole" or believing that "If it's on the internet, it must be true."

Practice reflection.

Engage in reflective thinking by evaluating your thoughts, beliefs and assumptions. Consider alternative viewpoints, and be open to changing your perspective based on new information.

Embrace intellectual humility.

Be humble and aware that you could be wrong. Knowledge is an ongoing process; be open to admitting mistakes or gaps in understanding. Embrace a growth mindset that values continuous learning and improvement.

Develop your sense of belonging.

The third tier in Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a sense of belonging. One aspect of belonging is connection. All humans have this need. Without critical thinking, we are vulnerable to making our group's beliefs our own rather than evaluating which beliefs align with our values.

Align your view and your values.

Rather than defining yourself by a particular view, ask whether a different view aligns with your values. When we identify ourselves by the beliefs of our reference group (religious, political, etc.), we look for ways to justify our ideas. In doing so, we deny ourselves access to critical thinking.

Evidence Of Critical Thinking

When you practice critical thinking, it will be evident in several areas:

Evidence-Based Decision-Making

Rely on facts rather than emotions or personal biases. Follow five distinct steps, called the five A’s : ask, access, appraise, apply and audit. Gather relevant information, evaluate the evidence objectively and consider different perspectives before making decisions. Then reevaluate them as you learn new information.

Problem-Solving

Approach problems systematically by defining the issue, gathering relevant data, brainstorming potential solutions and evaluating feasibility. Engage in collaborative problem-solving to benefit from diverse perspectives. Open-mindedly consider alternative systems of thought. Recognize assumptions, implications and practical consequences, then adjust as needed.

Effective Communication

Solve complex problems by clearly and effectively communicating with others. Utilize critical thinking skills to articulate your thoughts clearly, listen actively and engage in respectful and constructive dialogue. Challenge ideas through logical arguments and evidence rather than resorting to personal attacks. Respecting people with different views does not mean you agree with their opinions. Evaluate, formulate and communicate questions with clarity and precision.

Continuous Learning

Apply critical thinking to ongoing personal and professional development. Seek opportunities for further education, engage in intellectual discourse and actively challenge your beliefs and assumptions.

Using Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is a powerful cognitive tool that empowers individuals to navigate the complexities of the modern world. Critical thinking enhances decision-making, problem-solving and communication abilities by fostering logical reasoning, analytical skills and an open mindset. It enables individuals to overcome cognitive biases, evaluate information effectively and make informed choices. Cultivating and applying critical thinking skills benefits individuals and contributes to a more thoughtful and rational society. Embracing critical thinking is essential for fostering intellectual growth, facilitating progress and addressing the challenges of the 21st century.

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