Decision Making and Problem Solving
I'm sure you've been in a situation where your decision making or problem solving ability has let you down - I know I have!
But there are tools and techniques that you can use to help make seemingly impossible decisions and solve problems no matter how complex. And being able to make decisions and solve problems with confidence is a life skill we can all use.
In fact, we all solve problems and make decisions every day of our lives – what will I wear to work? What will I cook for dinner? How will I arrange to pick up the kids? Many of these day-to-day decisions and problems are easy to solve, so you probably don’t even notice that your brain is doing anything.
And most problem solving techniques are merely an extension of what your brain naturally does when faced with these day-to-day problems. Techniques such as:
- Many brainstorming variations, including the Military’s version for solving problems
- SWOT Analysis for making decisions and solving problems.
- Mind Mapping for charting a course through complex problems – also, the mind map variation “Sticky note mapping”.
- Preparing instructions and plans for decision making and solving problems.
Next time you face a problem, no matter how simple or complex, try one of the above techniques – I can assure you that you’ll confidently make the right decision!
These are of course only a few of the myriad of decision making and problem solving techniques available. I don’t want to go into them all – just give you a few of the basic techniques that will do the job.
But if these aren’t enough for one of your complex problems, or you’d like to try a different approach, remember that there are other methods available – decision trees, decision matrices [there’s a template for one of the these in the ToolBOX], concept diagrams, flowcharts, system diagrams and risk assessments – just to name a few.
There’s already a lot of information on these methods on the web – so just Google It! and see what you find!
What decision making skills do YOU think are critical for success? Write a page on it and teach others…
