SUBJECT: Decision-making tactics
APPLICATION: Better decision quality and acceptance

By Thomas P. Sattler, Ed.D., and Carol A. Doniek, M.S.

ONE OF THE MOST important traits of a good manager is the ability to make decisions. A lack of confidence by management in the decision-making process can result in a lack of commitment from staff and club members. These two groups are analogous to the little boy who was asked by a famous evangelist how to find the nearest post office. When the boy told him, the evangelist thanked him and said, "Why don't you come to the prayer meeting tonight and you can hear me tell everyone how they can get to heaven." The boy said, "I don't think so. You don't even know your way to the post office."

Decisions involving your facility are crucial to its survival, now more than ever. You need a systematic approach toward decision-making to ensure that you are making the best possible decisions for your facility. While every situation is different (as well as every manager), the following step-by-step process can serve as a framework; that, with practice, can be tailored to any decision.

Keep the goal of the decision foremost in your mind. Why do you need to make this decision? Your goal may be to increase membership, decrease employee turnover, handle a complaint from a member or any number of other issues. Put your goal in writing and refer to it often during the process. If not, you will be like the rancher who listened to the suggestions of his friends and family for a brand name, but due to his lack of decisiveness, all the cattle died during the branding.

List all the options freely. Your decisions are only as good as your options. Include all the options even if they seem unlikely at the time. Be creative, non-judgmental and uninhibited. What is the best outcome? What is the worst thing that could happen? Ask for suggestions from colleagues, if time permits. Allow further choices to surface by taking a wall; outside or doing another relaxing activity.

Consult your head and your heart. Record the facts relative to each option. Then list your feelings or intuition about each option. Consider the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to each option. Double check your facts and trust your intuition. Arrange these items into one of two columns -- one labeled "positives" and one labeled "negatives."

Use a numerical approach if two or more options are similarly appealing. Assign a number from one to five (five being most favorable) to each positive item. (More than one item may be assigned the same number.) Record the sum of each column. Assign a number from one to five (five being most negative) to each item in the negative category. Subtract the sum of the negative column from the sum of the positive; column. The option with the highest score may be your best choice.

Make sure that you are meeting the original goal. Remember that success is the realization of a predetermined goal. Furthermore, if you didn't have a goal- you really didn't score. Managers can give up lot of things, but they cannot give up the final responsibility.

Confidence in the process fosters confidence in the decision.

Thomas P Sattler, Ed.D., is a professor of kinesiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Carol A. Doniek, M.S., is an exercise physiologist at Sprint Fitness, managed by Lutheran General Fitness Services of Lutheran General Health Systems.

REFERENCES

  1. Heller, R. T. Decision Makers: The Men and The Million-Dollar Moves Behind Today's Great Corporate Success Stories. Truman Talley Books, 1989.
  2. Johnson, S. "Yes" or "No" The Guide to Better Decisions. Harper Collins Publisher, 1992.
  3. Rubin, T. Overcoming Indecisiveness: The Eight Steps of Effective Decision making. Harper and Row Publishers, 1985.

 

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