One of the most important things that any manager does is to make decisions. We make a lot of decisions every day. We hope that we are making good decisions; however, I think that we all realize that we probably make a mix of both good and bad decisions. What we’d all like to be able to do is to make more good decisions and fewer bad decisions. The question is just exactly how can we go about doing this? It turns out that the answer may be simpler than we thought.
It’s All About The Decisions That You Make
As a manager, every decision you make (or don’t make) affects others in your team. The best decision makers are the ones who know themselves well. They are clear about their perspective on the given subject, aware of their biases, understand their personality traits, and know the kinds of things that influence their decision making. The easiest decisions are the ones for which you and your team have enough information to suggest a clear path forward. In these cases, you probably already have a system already in place. You might start out by assessing the situation and reviewing the things that you already know, how you’ve addressed the issue in the past, and the alternatives and possible outcomes. The best decision is the one that aligns with your company’s goals.
In the best cases, you might call on a member of your team who has experience in the area and can provide additional insights and information that can help you make a final decision. As a manger you can share what you know and ask for their advice. Once they provide their advice, you can listen to them and make suggestions from a place of curiosity to fully hear their perspective and the information they present. You’ll want to ask specific questions to determine if their ideas match your goals. Once the decision has been made, be sure to thank them for sharing their expertise with you and helping you reach the best decision for the team.
But, sometimes, no matter how much data you have collected, there just isn’t a clear path forward. The worst thing you can do when action steps are required is to fail to make a decision and set a course for your team. In those instances, you are going to need to be able to tap into your intuition.
The Power Of Your Intuition
Managers need to realize that their intuition is their decision-making superpower. Tapping into your intuition begins with knowing, liking, and trusting yourself. Managers have to understand that when you know, like, and trust yourself, you know what’s important to you based on your values, priorities, and goals. This allows you to be aware of what satisfies you, so you can align your decision with your preferences. You’ll also be more confident in your abilities because you trust your strengths and talents. When a manager is able to make good decisions with confidence, they can save time and money, increasing their bottom line. Using your intuition is key to this when the facts simply aren’t there for you.
The question that all managers face is deciding how you tap into your intuition so you can make better decisions? The critical factor is getting your mind out of the way, and understanding the five ways to tap into your intuition that are relatively quick and easy.
- Give your mind another job to do. Do things like listen to a song, change your scenery, or get a cup of sofa or coffee. How many times have you said, “I had an epiphany while mowing the lawn.” You had an epiphany simply because your mind had another job to do, and your thinking brain was able to get out of the way of your intuition.
Make sure to set an intention before you go to bed. Once you’re ready to go to sleep, try to set an intention to connect to your intuition and remember your dreams. When you wake up, grab a pad and write down what you remember. After a handful of days, read over what you’ve written in order to identify any themes or patterns.
Work at improving your observation skills. Go someplace new and unfamiliar to you. Take just 10 seconds to look around you. Once you have done this, close your eyes and try to recall your environment in detail.
Let your imagination wander for a while. Take time to dream about your future. Make time each day to dream. Find ways to support this effort by journaling, engaging in visualization exercises, or starting a mediation practice. Make sure that when you do get an intuitive nudge that you follow it!
Engage in total self-care. Move your body to help you stay grounded and release tension and blocks that may inhibit your ability to connect with your intuition. Take a walk, participate in a yoga class, or book a massage appointment.
These practices will help you to tap into your intuition, become more self-aware, and make better decisions for you and your team. There is great value in taking time to listen to yourself and deciding to trust yourself, and, at the same time, trusting your intuition. Once you have reached a decision, whether through fact-finding or intuition, be sure to clearly communicate your decision to your team. Make sure that you are being transparent about changes in direction, especially those concerning policy, programming, and staffing. To build or maintain an engaged and open company culture, think about the best way that you can present your decision and speak confidently. Your team will appreciate you for both providing them with a clear direction and explaining your rationale.
What All Of This Means For You
The one thing that all managers are asked to do well is to make decisions. The challenge that we face when it comes time to make a decision is that we always want to make the right decision. It turns out that that can be a very hard thing to do correctly. What we’d like to be able to learn is how to make the right decisions.
Managers need to understand that the decisions that they make have an impact. The impact us, they impact our team, and they can impact others. The easiest decisions for us to make are the ones in which we have all of the information that we need. In situations where we may not have all of the information that we need, sometimes we can relay on a member of our team to help make the decision. In situations in which we don’t have all of the information that we need we are going to have to rely on our intuition. In order to be able to use our intuition we are going to have to know, like, and trust ourselves. There are five different ways that we can tap into our intuition. Once we’ve made a decision, we need to clearly communicate it to our team.
Developing the ability to make good decisions is something that every manager should do. The good news is that we all already have what we need. Our own intuition can help us make a decision when we don’t have all of the information that is required. We need to learn how to and when to trust our intuition. Doing so can help us to become better making the decisions that we need to make.
– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World IT Management Skills™
Question For You: Can you think of a situation in which you should not rely on your intuition?
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What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time
I don’t know about you, but once I set a goal I’m pretty much done with it. I feel that I’ve set a direction for my team and now it’s my job as a manager to help the team accomplish the goal that has been set. However, I’m also willing to admit that I don’t always achieve all of my goals. Most of my goals get set at the beginning of the year, and it turns out that a year is a really long time. A great deal can change and those changes can have a big impact on my ability to achieve my goals. There is the distinct possibility that I may have been going at this goal thing all wrong.