A business owner wanted to grow his business. He loved inventing grandiose ideas, but failed to create sustainable infrastructures to support them. For example, he wanted to hire great customer service people and staff up his technical support team. The problem was, he was unable to setup and unwilling to follow a sustainable (and legal) selection system to find people and vet them. Instead, he would entice people from larger employers to come and work for his much smaller company, falsely believing if the person worked for that big company they would naturally succeed in his growing business. Even though he was cautioned about job fit and culture fit when hiring those people, he wouldn’t listen. He even used non-qualified assessments because they were free and supported his decisions! Six months later the people left and started their own company, taking several important clients with them.
4 Ways to Acquire Better Information to Make Better Decisions
Whether you are hiring or making other business decisions, it’s important you take the time to use the right tools, listen to others and build decisions that will positively impact your business today, and tomorrow! The easy fixes do not usually produce the best sustainable results.
Stop Overthinking. There is an old adage, talking to yourself is talking to a fool. While no one wants to think of him- or herself as a fool, the challenge is, relying on your own thoughts does not provide new and valid information. And, latching onto a new idea, without talking through the pros and cons of how it would or could work in your organization, will not produce the best results either.
Take time to learn the art of brainstorming … it will save time, money and sleepless nights! Instead of pondering an issue or problem to death in your head, brainstorm possible solutions with your team, and, at this point, don’t get stopped by any of the details. Later in the decision-making process, include those off-the-wall ideas that may have more merit when looked at closer.
Slow Down the Decision Process. We live in a world where people love to make decisions in a nano-second. Unfortunately, relying on the tiniest fragments of information is not a valid or sustainable process when making decisions. Many times people that make decisions too quickly, also change their minds just as quickly, creating chaos within their business.
Take time to talk through the pros and cons of your brainstorming session(s). Pick at least five reasons something will work before disregarding it. Investigate the legalities, financial, people, current policies and procedures, and operational impacts before making any final decisions. Yes, it will take more time upfront, but usually saves beaucoup bucks. You will have more time for fun and enjoy restful nights!
Listen to Others with Differing Opinions Before Making Final Decisions. Listening to information you may not wish to hear, or feeling it requires too much effort to learn the truth, only limits your results. Whenever poor decisions are made, the underlying issue(s) never go away!
Putting frosting on mud pie and calling it a cake doesn’t change it from a mud pie!
For example, people love using non-qualified assessment tools to hire people. These tools have great face validity but do not comply with the Department of Labor regs for pre-employment use. This means they show the results of how job candidates want to be seen and how the interviewer wants to see them. This is rarely a reflection of how the candidate will really behave, think or do their work, causing a lot of mischief once they are on the payroll.
Listen as if your business’s success depends upon your doing so … because it does!
Communicate the Outcome so that Everyone Wins. Once you’ve made the final decision, it’s important to communicate the outcome, but beware of spinning it. This will only cause the underlying issue(s) to perpetuate within your company culture — slowly but surely. Next time the same or similar issue will cost more time, more money and maybe your job or company!
You want your employees, customers, vendors and business associates to authentically feel the decisions you make are fair and you’ve followed your own company values, policies and procedures, and other important data. Doing so will build good, sustainable results so that everyone wins.
©Jeannette Seibly, 2016
Jeannette Seibly has been a business advisor and facilitator for over 23 years; she is laser sharp at identifying the leverage points that will take a business and its team to the next level of performance and success. Check out her website: http://SeibCo.com or contact Jeannette for a free, confidential conversation at http://SeibCo.com/contact.