Effective decision making skills have a direct relationship to prioritizing. As a business leader you have many decisions that you have to make every day. Some are easy, but others are challenging.  How do we make sure that our daily business decisions are moving us forward in the right direction?

To start we must define what our core business is? Can you define your core business in one sentence? If we can clearly define our core business then we can start to focus on business macro and micro activities needed to fulfill core business needs. 

Next, in order to prioritize effectively and correctly we must have a clear vision and mission, SMART goals, effective strategies, and workable plans. This is your road map to the future; this is your guidance. If you don’t know where your business is going then your decisions will most likely be reactionary and impulsive.

Effective strategies and workable work-plans will put you on the right track to having clear daily goals. Under “perfect” conditions, your daily business decisions should be guided by these goals. We can dream, alas nothing is perfect in business. Unexpected problems are bound to appear during business operations. Nevertheless, I believe that the more clearly defined and measurable your goals are the less “unforeseen” fires your will have to extinguish. This is where we can clearly see the difference between (the minority) strategic managers, and (the majority) professional firefighting managers.

Take a look at your daily personal activities. What are you spending your time doing? What are the decisions you’re making? Create a daily log and write down all the business activities, issues, and decisions you take for at least one week. What are the issues you are dealing with continuously? Are these issues planned or unexpected? What types of decisions are you taking? Are they adding value? Are your decisions effective and directly related to your core business and daily business plans? How effective are your plans and what are your achievements?

It takes skill to stay focused on your goals. The daily distractions are many, and you are continuously “pulled “ in many directions. But which directions are you letting yourself go in? Are you moving toward your business vision? Or are you taking the wrong “detours”?

Effectively prioritizing your tasks, and effective decision making gets better with practice. It will become second-nature to you. But to start, you need to continuously keep your core business in mind. Understand and believe in your vision and stay focused on your business goals. It takes commitment and discipline to fight off distractions and stay focused. The Business world is full of “noise pollution” and only those who are able to filter out the commotions shall shine. 

Fahmi Abdein

Empower