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What Stops You Making Decisions At Work & What To Do About It · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: What stops you making decisions at work?
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: The effort needed to make a decision makes your head feel like it might explode.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: It feels too much, too difficult, or too scary.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: It feels far easier and safer to put off making a decision for another day.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Tomorrow you promise yourself the same thing, it'll happen tomorrow.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: It might be something simple like what to tell your boss and what to stay silent about.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Or it might be something with much bigger consequences like investing in developing a new product or entering a new market or even moving jobs.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: So you better understand what stops you making decisions at work.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going through firstly seven reasons for not making a decision and what signs to look for.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, a brilliant way to approach tough decisions at work.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And third, three practical ways to help you make a decision now.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: The most confident decision-making leaders are those that get recruited first and are rewarded and recognized the most.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Your ability to make decisions impacts every part of your life and particularly your success at work, whatever your job currently.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: In business, the worst decision to make is not making a decision.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Focus more on making sure the decisions you make turn out right rather than making the right decision.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles, and if you're new here, Enhanced.training shares people management expertise, resources, and courses teaching you how to build high-performing teams.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: We have lots of free resources and webinars available to add more depth to your knowledge or save you a ton of time.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So do visit us at Enhanced.training to make use of these.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Here are seven reasons for what stops you making decisions at work and the signs that you should look for.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Being conscious of what is stopping you making a decision, in my view, really helps you work out how to overcome decision paralysis.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Research suggests that we make around 35,000 decisions every single day.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Over 95% of these decisions are made subconsciously.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Every person makes a lot of decisions, so you are the main reason you stop yourself making a decision.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: We all suffer these challenges.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, fear of failure stops you making decisions at work.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: There can be significant personal consequences for failing in many companies, such as losing bonuses, promotions, and even your job.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Having to look colleagues in the eye, see their disappointment, face the social shame.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: It feels much safer to not make a decision.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Being in a psychologically safe environment or having a strong track record of success reduces fear of failure.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, lack of confidence stops you making decisions at work.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: When you don't feel like you are an expert, or you've not made these decisions before, or you've got these types of decisions wrong before, it feels much safer to not make a decision.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Start small and build up the complexity and the impact of your decision making to gain confidence.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, lack of information stops you making decisions, or you are wrestling with lots of conflicting information.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Typically, the more information we have, the more confident we feel, and the less we fear making the wrong choice.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: In business, we usually have a lot less information than we would like, yet a decision is still needed.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Be clear on your assumptions and make the best decision you can.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, the need to make the right decisions stops you making decisions at work.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: You might be admired as an expert or be a perfectionist, and getting things wrong is a major problem for you.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: At work, decisions are rarely binary, or right or wrong.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Better or worse is far more common outcomes from decisions.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Making a good enough decision rather than a perfect decision usually gets the results needed.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth, a lack of practice stops you making decisions.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: The size of the impact or consequences of the decision on you, your team and company is a big factor.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Recognizing you have made many good decisions in the past gives you a huge amount of confidence and reduces your fear of failure.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sixth, worrying about what others will think stops you making a decision.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: When you're worried about pleasing others, making decisions while trying to second guess what others want is a very tough ask.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Focus on the positive impacts that your decision will make on others rather than the negatives.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: And seventh, lack of direction stops you making decisions at work.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: A key reason leaders must set and communicate direction clearly is to enable their followers to make decisions a lot more easily.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Clear direction creates safety, permission and confidence when making decisions.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a good sense of your company, department or team direction, understand this first.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Very good and decisive decision makers regularly experience these seven reasons that stop you making decisions.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: They're human just like you, with their own fears, concerns, ambitions and dreams.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Their life experiences help and hinder their making different types of decisions in the same way yours does.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Good decision makers have worked out techniques to overcome their fears, and you can use exactly the same techniques to overcome your fears and make decisions quickly and decisively.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: A brilliant way to approach tough decisions at work.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: So when at work when making decisions, your first priority is making sure that the company is better off because of your decision.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: When the company is better off, then the team working in the company is better off.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: When the team is better off, so will you be.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself, as a result of taking this option, will a company as a whole be better off compared to the other options available for the decision?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: If the answer is yes, then make the decision.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: If the answer is no, then reconsider your other options or create more options.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Another approach to this question is to ask how well does the decision I could take align with the strategy and goals of the company?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Ask the same question for the function and team goals.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: The closer the alignment, the better the decision in general terms.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Take your personal fears, hopes, and dreams out of the equation as much as possible and focus on benefiting the wider company or team when making decisions.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're going to go through three practical ways to help you make a decision now.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: When you are struggling to make a decision at work, an incredibly valuable technique is to use reframing.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Reframing is a psychological technique to change your perception of the situation.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Reframing gets you to look at the situation from a different perspective and gain psychological distance from the decision, thus reducing the emotions you feel around making the decision.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Here are three practical ways to reframe your situation to better enable you to make a decision quickly and decisively.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, when the decision feels too big, the consequence is too high, when the decision is too complex, break one big decision into lots of little decisions.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: In your mind, making 10 smaller decisions of the size, complexity and impact that you're used to is much easier and feels a lot more comfortable than making one decision far out of your comfort zone.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: You achieve the same results by a different route.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Break big down into lots of smaller decisions.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, when the impact of the decision feels too far away into the future, when it is easy to put the decision off to another day, change your perception from the present to the future.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Think of yourself a week, a month, a year into the future, and how you'll feel about making the decision, and how you'll feel about the impact of that decision.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Bringing your future self back into today creates a different perspective which helps you make the decision today.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, when the decision feels too hard, where there are too many powerful emotions associated with the decision, such as fear, shame, and humiliation of making a very public mistake, change your perception into a positively framed decision.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Turn risks into opportunities, turn problems into learning challenges, turn setbacks into a chance for a new direction.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Find one or more positive perceptions about the situation you face.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: It is always more appealing to move forward to gain positives rather than try and avoid negatives.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Mentally reframing your perceptions takes a bit of work, perseverance and practice.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Keep at it and you'll find that you automatically look for the best perspective to take to enable you to make good decisions today.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: The only thing stopping you making decisions is you.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Change how you perceive the situation and you will get yourself out of the way of decision making.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: So in summary, what stops you making decisions at work is you, your fears and your perceptions.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Being aware of what is stopping you making decisions at work is a great first step.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Then use the direction of the group or company and what is best for the group or company to make the tough decisions.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, practice reframing your perceptions for decisions that feel too big, too far away, or too hard to make.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Remember at work there are people around you to help you get a different perspective and help you make any decision.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Make use of them.training and I'll get back to you.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for listening, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.