Hard decisions are the ones we often struggle with, either putting them off or choosing an apparently easier path instead. As a consultancy leader, mastering the skill of making decisions swiftly, especially the tough ones, is crucial for your success.

If you, like me, sometimes avoid these hard decisions, I'm here to help you make better decisions faster.

Often, we mask difficult decisions with a framework of excuses. If this sounds familiar, you need a mindset shift to tackle hard decisions head-on. I learned this the hard way.

I hired a consultant to assist with a specific area of my business. He came highly recommended and understood our goals. Initially, things went well - he got familiar with the landscape and took charge of a few areas. However, after three months, I noticed that while he contributed verbally, he wasn’t significantly moving the needle. I needed to address this, possibly ending our arrangement, but I delayed making a firm decision for another 12 months.

I created numerous excuses to justify his importance. Eventually, I decided to part ways, which had no negative impact on our results.

In hindsight, I should have made that decision a year earlier. Avoiding the hard decision when it was needed cost me dearly.

I realised I lacked a decision-making framework to make those tough choices easier.

Ray Dalio puts it best:

This principle applies equally to your personal and professional life. I thought I would use Ray’s approach to create a framework for making better decisions.

Clarity on your priority goals and values

The best decisions you can make are those that support your priority goals and align with your values. 

Your first action is ensuring that you have written life, business, and relationship goals supported by values. Put them somewhere you can access and refer to quickly - the notes application on your smartphone is a good place to start.

The Decision Alignment Test (DAT)

Now that your priority goals and values are easily accessible, you can use the Decision Alignment Test (DAT). Here’s how it works:

• Is the decision aligned with your values?

• Is the decision aligned with your priority goals?

If the answer is no to either of these questions, you can generally make a quick decision not to proceed or that the decision criteria need to change before evaluating it further. 

When decisions don’t pass DAT, record what you decided and why so that you have a record for the future. These decisions will likely come up again, and building a record will help you identify them faster. 

Identifying the Best Decisions

1. List your time and financial investments (personal and business).

2. List the relationships you're investing in (personal and business).

3. List any other areas of your life, both personal and business, that aren’t working for you or that you’re worried or stressed about.

4. Note whether each item is working or not.

5. Score the value of improving each item as high, medium, or low.

Now, focus on the high-value areas and write down the decisions you must make for each.

Building the Courage to Make Decisions

A solid framework will boost your confidence and refine your decision-making process, making it easier to:

• Increase your decision-making confidence

• Refine your decisions if the framework falls short

• Identify where more information is needed to make a better decision

A Framework for Decision-Making

• Does the decision pass the Decision Alignment Test (DAT) - for alignment with your values and priority goals.

• Score each decision that passes based on its criticality: High, Medium, or Low.

• Score your confidence in the information you have:

  • For High criticality, aim for 80%+ confidence.

  • For Medium criticality, aim for 60%-80% confidence.

  • For Low criticality, aim for 50%-60% confidence.

Adjust these scores based on your risk tolerance, but avoid lowering them too much. A lower confidence score might be acceptable for very low criticality with high upside.

Proceeding with Decisions

• If your confidence score meets the target threshold, proceed with your decision.

• If it’s below the threshold, gather more information.

• For non-binary decisions with multiple credible options, using Decision Alignment Weighting is helpful.

Gathering Information

1. List the additional information needed to boost your confidence.

2. Identify credible sources for this information. For critical decisions, seek out diverse, credible perspectives.

3. Reassess once you have the information and proceed when your confidence meets the target.

Decision Alignment Weighting

Using the Decision Alignment test criteria, weight each of the criteria High, Medium or Low. 

• How well is the option aligned with your values?

• How well is the option aligned with your priority goals?

You can also give each a numerical score out of 5 and sum the total to rank options. This will help you choose the best-aligned option and can be a helpful tool when multiple people are involved in making the decision. 

Reflecting on Your Decisions

To improve your decision-making skills, reflect on your decisions:

1. Record the decision made and your rationale.

2. Set a review timeframe and diarise it.

3. At the review, note the outcome. Identify improvements for your decision-making process and update your framework if necessary.

4. If needed, schedule another review and repeat until you’ve seen the decision's results.

This framework provides a solid starting point for building your decision-making strategy. Very few people take their decision-making to this level. However, investing in better decision-making will pay dividends in the long run. 

In time, you’ll likely run through this by default. However, it is still beneficial to capture your priority decisions and reflect on them, as this will help you refine your decision-making. 

I hope you find this helpful. Please share your experiences and feedback.