As a manager you are, of course, responsible for making decisions on a number of different levels. You’ve probably already figured out that your interpersonal and information management roles involve making decisions, but you have a number of other responsibilities as well.

You have four main roles as a decision maker within your organisation. They are to act as an entrepreneur, to handle disturbances, to allocate resources, and to negotiate.

As an entrepreneur you are responsibel for finding new ideas that will enhance the way your team works. Once you’ve developed the idea you must implement it and continuously review it to ensure your strategies are sound. You’ll need to know when to make changes should they become necessary.

The handling of disturbances within your team or department are also your responsibility. Disturbances may include anything from broken equipment to scheduling conflicts or two team members not getting along. You need to make decisions that will stop or avoid anything that will decrease your team’s productivity.

When your team or department receives new resources they’ll come to you first. It’s your job to decide who needs those resources and allocate them properly. These may include access to training, funding for new equipment, and evens upplies.

Last, but certainly not least, you are a negotiator. You are responsible for working with suppliers, other management members, and your employees to make agreements that will enhance your performance.

Managers are obviously bestowed with a significant amount of authority and if you find yourself in a new management position you’ll have to be careful not to abuse that position. The more skilled you are at using your decision making skills for good the more productive, efficient, and successful your team will be.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Manager Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

Goals are goals, true – but when you’re in business it’s important to recognize that there are several different types of goals to keep track of. For the most part therea re three main types of goals:

1. Goals set at individual levels
2. Goals set for different areas
3. Goals set to meet time frame requirements

Goals that we set for individual levels of the organisation refer to a company’s mission statement and operational ideals. They govern the purpose of the organisation and involve setting both strategic goals (usually set by upper management), tactical goals (usually set by middle management), and operational goals (usually set by lower management).

Different areas of an organisation need goals as well. For example, the marketing department and manufacturing plants are definitely going to have a different set of goals. The same applies to finance departments, maintenance, and even support staff.

Time frame goals refer to short-term, intermediate, and long-term goals. You may want your processing plant to complete 1,000,000 widgets in two days (a short-term goal) or you may want to open 25 new stores over the course of 5 years (a long-term goal). Time-oriented goals can apply to any of the levels or areas of an organisation separately – or to everyone as a whole.

It’s important to recognize that you can’t simply set a goal and hold your breath waiting for it to be met. You have to set focused goals and make sure that the people who need to work towards meeting that goal are properly educated and advised. Use your decision making skills to decide who is best suited to complete a given task and then delegate the project. You’ll be pleased with the results you get from a focused group.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Manager Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

One of the most important parts of the decision making process is proper planning and goal setting. Goals are incredibly important to the success of any organisation, and for good reason. They serve four main purposes:

1. Goals provide direction – whether for individuals, teams, or an entire organisation. Why does your company exist if not to meet some sort of goal? Do you want to make sales, increase revenues, or build your client list.
2. Setting goals leads to proper planning which leads to meeting goals and setting new ones. It sounds silly, but if you have a goal you should strive to meet it. If you meet your goals you should be prepared to move on to the next one.
3. Goals tend to motivate people to work harder. They’re even better at motivating people if they know they will be rewarded for meeting their goals.
4. Setting goals will allow you and your organisation to evaluate your processes. If you set a goal that you are unable to meet you’ll need to find out why it was unattainable. This process will give you the knowledge necessary to make changes to your processes and procedures.

We’re going to spend some time over the next week discussing decision making, planning, and goal setting. We’ll look at different aspects of each, how they relate to each other, and how you can use these skills to improve productivity in the workplace.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Whether you need to diffuse a conflict, start a new project, or rearrange your department, decision making skills are going to prove to be amongst the most valuable management skills you’ll develop. We’ve spoken before about the decision making process itself and took a close look at the steps you must follow, from recognizing a decision must be made to implementing your final choice.

Unfortunately, there are very few cases where everyone you encounter will be happy with every decision you make. The trick is to realize that you can’t avoid a decision, but that making a choice will allow you to regain control of your department or team, whether they like it or not.

Here are a few decision making skills you should work on as you progress:

• Understand why you are making a decision. Do you really understand the problem at hand or do you need to obtain more information?

• Identifying your alternatives. Try to find a handful of solutions to your problem so that you can review them and choose which might work best. Human nature is to jump on the first solution we think of, but this isn’t always the most productive course of action.

• Evaluate the consequences. Review each alternative you discovered and determine whether or not implementing those ideas will have a positive or negative impact on your ultimate goals.

• Evaluate the outcome. You aren’t through with a situation just because you’ve made a final decision. Make sure you evaluate the outcome to ensure that the decision you made was the right choice. Don’t hesitate to make changes if you see room for improvement.

As a manager you have responsibility to make decisions that will impact the performance of your entire team or department. Be confident and assertive and your team will support any decision you make!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

We make hundreds of decisions each day. While making a decision may seem like a simple task, there are a number of key factors that you need to consider in order to make sure your final decision results in the outcome you desire. I’ve found, unfortunately, that the decision making process involves much more than a simple coin toss.

The decision making process is simple. You must:

- Recognize that a decision needs to be made.
- Identify all of the various alternatives available.
- Recognize and choose the best answer.
- Implement your decision.

Easier said than done, right?

The decisions you make do not always involve problems. Some decision making situations come as a result of opportunity, where you realize you have the chance to make a change and must determine the best way to take advantage. Perhaps you’ve won the lottery, for example, and must decide how to best invest your money.

I have found that there are two main types of decisions as well. A programmed decision is one that you make on a regular basis – what to have for breakfast, what supplier you’ll use when you need to purchase printer ink, etc. Others are nonprogrammed, meaning they do not come about every day and take more time and effort to consider. Deciding whether or not to fire an inadequate employee or determining how to split an unexpected bonus amongst your team members, for example.

Your strong decision making skills coupled with your now developing communication and delegation skills will enable you to constantly stay in control of your life, team, and workplace.

Do you have an example of a difficult decision and the unique process you had to go through in order to come to an end result? If so, please share. We’d love to hear about it.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”