How to take good decisions?

When we take a decision we become responsible for it and, no one wants to take responsibility, therefore, no one takes decisions. I have seen many people who feel happy in following decisions made by others but, they never try to take a decision by themselves. 

 

There are two reasons why people don’t take decisions-

1. Fear of Failure- They are afraid of making a mistake or getting failed in what they have thought of doing and this fear pushes them not to take decisions.

2. Fear of Hurting Someone- In a typical Asian family most of the decisions are taken by the elders of the family and no one chips-in their decisions. Many times fear or love of elders compels people not to take their own decisions.

A person who has any of these two fears in its life will always feel awkward in taking any decision.

It is extremely important to understand the decision making mechanism so that we can succeed in most of our decisions. 

There are two types of decisions-

1. Reversible Decisions- These are those types of decisions which we can alter if something goes wrong.

2. Irreversible Decisions- Irreversible decisions are those decisions which we cannot alter if something goes wrong.

Never ever take an irreversible decision in life i.e. a decision which you cannot change. If a situation comes where you have to take a cut-throat decision then it is better you take it in a group and not individually.

Decision is taken either by an individual or group. To save yourself from Office politics always take Group-decisions. Even Governments of different countries advocate group decision making that is why they make committees or panel and make them responsible for any decision.

The different advantages of Group decision making are-

i)  It is easy to implement it because many different people facilitate in it.

ii) Responsibility of a decision is carried by many people. Hence, it becomes easy to manage failures.

iii)Effectiveness of decision increases because many people with different mindset brainstorm on it.
 

Creative thinking is also an important component of decision making. Creative thinking is an ability to think of consequences of your decisions. People who can clearly think about the consequences of their decisions are the people who should be treasured the   most because they become great advisors and planners.  

The decision making process which should be followed while in an organization is-

1. Identify the problem (you can do this individually or in a group)

2. Find alternative solutions (only in a group)

3. Implement the solution (only reversible decision taken)

4. Evaluate the consequences.

At every level, have a written document signed by all group members as a proof of evidence. The same document can be used for future references.

Where do managers spend time?

One of the scarce resources which managers get is time. No matter how brilliant or foolish you are, you will only get 24 hrs a day. Not a single second is given as stock by God.
“Time management is a self-discipline in action”- Brian Tracy, motivational speaker.If we can manage our time effectively then we can go ahead from anyone.

Question arises is that where does an average, effective and successful manager spends time?  

In the year 1988, Fred Luthans and his team came up with a path breaking research which tremendously affected the management thinking.  They studied 450 managers to identify what these managers do in managing their organisations. What they found was these managers were broadly engaged in the four managerial activities:

1. Traditional Management- Which means planning, controlling and decision making.

2. Communication- They spent their time in exchanging the routine information and processing some kind of paperwork.

3. Human Resource Management- They used to spend their time in motivating, disciplining, training, managing conflict, team building, recruitment and selection.

4. Networking- They used to spend time in interacting with outsiders like competitors, suppliers, government officials, customers etc. and they were also engaged in organisational politics held among different units.

When I read these functions I realized that being an executive I myself spend most of the time in these activities only.

Time spent by managers in above activities

Managerial Activity	Time Spent (%)
	Average Managers	Successful Managers	Effective Managers
Traditional Management	32	13	19
Communication	29	28	44
Human Resource Management	20	11	26
Networking	19	48	11

After going through the research I realized that I was spending very few hours in paperwork and networking.  Slowly, when I started managing my time for Communication and Networking it improved my personal performance. Due to this small change, I have evidence of every work which I have done and this has given me amazing confidence for future actions.

What we can learn from an IAS officer?

I have met three IAS officers till date for different purposes. I observed their work style closely and figured out few things which make them different.

1. Important come, Important in- Being a management graduate I was taught that first come, first in practice is good, which means that the person who has come first should meet you first. But, IAS officers don’t follow this method. They follow important come, important in. This means that the person who has more important work will come first and rest people can follow. 

2. Data-Driven Decisions- IAS officers are more interested in written evidences than anything else. Oral oaths have no place in their work system. They understand the complexity of law and they know that they are accountable for every decision. Hence, written communication is best for their work. They believe less on experts’ advices and more on scientific research papers. 

3.Work in a cool environment- Once I read in a magazine that working in a cool environment makes you more productive than the hot environment but I never took that thing seriously. After, working with 3 IAS officers I realized that findings in that magazine article were right because all IAS officers prefer to work in A.C. rooms. Their rooms are chilled and will give you a pleasant feeling.

4. Sharp Memory- An IAS officer will either remember you by your name or face but they will remember you. They have their own styles of remembering people.  

5. Delegation- IAS officers are very busy. Every day they get at least 500 letters each carrying some complain. It is impossible for one man to know and do everything. Therefore, they allocate the work to the expert of that field and after that they differentiate the outcomes with the desired expectations. Their work is to make others work.

6. Sense of Urgency- IAS officers work fast. If someone comes with a problem they act quickly, they make him or her comfortable and give attention to them. They don’t procrastinate and delay in taking action. Sometimes they will surprise you with their speed. They teach you that a person should not only work hard but also fast.

7. Direct Conversation- In a management college, lots of focus is being made on indirect conversation but when you will meet an IAS he will talk directly. He will ask what's the issue? He will act upon it and game over. He has no place for small talks. He will not even waste time on Hi and Hello!. He talks about work and that's it. He will not twist his words. He's very direct in his approach.

The First Step of Leadership

Whenever, we read management books we find a detail list of leadership traits. But, they don't talk about the first step of leadership. May be authors don't research properly or purposely ignore this first step.

History has seen leaders who had more than one spouse and leaders who followed chastity throughout their life. We have seen leaders who were rich and who were poor. We have seen leaders who drink alcohol and leaders who were teetotaler. We have seen leaders who were great communicator and leaders who were average speakers. But, one thing common between all the leaders was the first step which changed their life. .

If you want to be a leader then the first step is that you forget what your parents, teachers, friends or anyone has taught you. And, then believe only on those things in which you believe to be true.

If you believe something because someone told you it to be true then soon your faith on that thing will vanquish. Leaders have firm believe on their thoughts because they believe on them deeply. Leaders give new things to the society because they refuse to learn the old concepts of the society e.g. If Gandhi would have thought that India is a slave country from years then he would not have fought for the freedom ever. If Lincoln would have thought that slavery is a part of American society then he would not have fought for the freedom of slaves. If Florence Nightingale would have thought that nursing was a poor profession of that time then world would not have remembered her as a ‘Lady with the Lamp’. If Galileo would have thought that the Earth was flat then we would not have known its real oval shape.  

They rebel against the odd of the society because they never let society to impose something on them. They did what they felt was right. They questioned the existing system. They had guts to argue.

Many people do what others are doing. They want to play safe. Fighting with something needs energy, mental fitness and time that is why, we see only few leaders in the society because every leader is a fighter from inside who refuses to give up. 

Every Leader has given some original idea because it has ability to think differently which comes from this step only.

 

In 21^st century organisations don’t need managers, they need Leaders with management skills because lots of change is going around in the society and Leader is the catalyst of every change.

We all can become leaders if we collect the courage to take the first step of leadership.