How do you make decisions?

Decision-making should be deliberate, done with intention. Not made on a whim.

“Majority decisions tend to be made without engaging the systematic thought and critical thinking skills of the individuals in the group…..Research shows that the decisions of a group as a whole are more thoughtful and creative when there is minority dissent than when it is absent.” — Philip G. Zimbardo

Something which I learned whilst at the Royal Military College in Australia was that decision-making should be deliberate. It should be done with intention and be a repeatable process.

This doesn’t mean that it becomes some robotic process, devoid of all emotion and life. Although this would do wonders for removing the imperfections of human biases — and we’re littered with them!

But what this means is that decisions should be deliberate, done with intention and not made on a whim.

We often call this “exercising judgment”, but how often has someone explained to you what that looks like?

To me, it’s being intentional. Having a framework, process or deliberate set of questions you ask yourself to ensure you are making smart and informed decisions.