Decision Making — Lesley Morrissey

Description

Decision Making (Hands On Management: Managing Yourself)
A practical guide to making better decisions, improving critical thinking, and developing confident leadership skills.

Every day, we make decisions—but how often do we stop and think about how we make them?

In business and in life, the quality of your decisions shapes your results. Yet decision-making is rarely taught as a structured skill. This practical and accessible decision-making and critical thinking guide gives you the tools to make more confident, informed, and effective choices.

Written as part of the popular Hands On Management series, this book breaks down the process of effective decision making into clear, actionable steps—helping you move beyond guesswork and “gut instinct” to a more structured, reliable approach.

Inside, you’ll discover how to:

• Understand the principles of strategic decision making in business and management
• Use simple frameworks for problem solving and critical thinking
• Recognise the limits of intuition and avoid common decision-making mistakes
• Improve your confidence when making high-stakes decisions under pressure
• Work effectively with others in group decision making and leadership situations

Even the most successful leaders don’t get every decision right—but what sets them apart is their ability to approach decisions thoughtfully and learn from outcomes.

This book equips you with practical techniques to ensure that, whatever the outcome, you can be confident you made the best possible choice with the information available.

Perfect for readers looking for:

• How to make better decisions at work and in life
• Decision making skills for managers and leaders
• Critical thinking and problem solving techniques
• Business strategy and management training
• Self-improvement and professional development

Whether you’re a manager, team leader, or simply looking to improve your everyday choices, Decision Making is a clear, practical guide to thinking better, deciding smarter, and achieving stronger results.

Because better decisions lead to better outcomes—and better outcomes shape your success.

This is the 11th booklet in the ‘Hands On Management: Managing Yourself’ series by author Lesley Morrissey; a human resources manager, management trainer and commercial copywriter.

The two HANDS ON MANAGEMENT series:

The complete Managing Yourself series:
1. Secret of Success
2. Personal Organisation
3. Effective Delegation
4. Understanding Communication
5. Communicating for Results
6. Non-verbal Communication
7. Persuasion & Influence
8. Written Communication
9. Report Writing
10. Presentations with Impact
11. Decision Making
12. Contributing at Meetings
13. Becoming a Leader

The complete Managing People series:
1. Creating a Positive Environment
2. Getting Focused
3. Motivating Your Team
4. Coaching & Developing Staff
5. Developing an Effective Team
6. Recruitment Strategies
7. Interviewing for Recruitment
8. Appraisal Skills
9. Conducting & Managing Meetings
10. Negotiating Win-Win Outcomes
11. Planning Projects & Achieving Results
12. Succession Planning
13. The Role of the Boss

Further details

We all make decisions every day – shall I get up when the alarm goes off, or stay in bed another 10 minutes; do I want cereal or a cooked breakfast; do I want to walk or get the bus?

Whichever decision we make there is an associated negative and positive impact. The decision may be a ‘gut reaction’, but the consequences have also had an effect on that final decision.

Deciding what to have for breakfast is not good training for business decision-making! In business decisions can be far-reaching in their effect and that makes it really important to make a good one.

Decision-making is sometimes done alone, sometimes in groups and sometimes in a linear system – where one person makes the initial decision and then has to justify it to someone else who then amends, changes or agrees to it. This chain can extend to three or four people at times.

Sound decision-making is a useful skill – however, it does not guarantee that your decisions will always be right! Robert Townsend, who launched the car hire giant Avis, reckoned he made a good decision once out of every three times!

Decision Making 4
Given that he is considered to be a very successful businessman it gives the rest of us some hope, and reassurance when we find we made a poor decision.

This Book is designed to give you some tools and guidance on scientific decision making so at least you can be sure that you did everything humanly possible to make a good decision.