One of the indispensable elements of management is decision making. For managers and leaders the ability to take strong decisions both in day to day affairs of the business, as well as, for major decisions that impact the future of businesses. To become an effective decision-maker like Nick Gamache and others and to be able to make the right decision most of the time it is important to know the barriers to decision making. Nick Gamache has spent the bulk of his career as a journalist and producer where he gained extensive experience in writing and performing for broadcasts as well as writing and editing online content. The barriers are there in most businesses and it is important to know how to avoid these barriers for becoming good managers and leaders in business. The following are barriers that arrive in the decision making process and ways to avoid them:
What are the Barriers to Decision Making and How to Avoid Them?
Psychological Biases:
The first type of barrier of decision making is the psychological barrier which includes the inclination to make the wrong decisions depending on the personal inclinations of the leader. This includes managers and leaders having an illusion of control when they have none on the situation, the inaccurate framing of the problem at hand, and a tendency of taking a short term decision without long term planning.
To avoid psychological biases it is important to be in control of the situation and being honest with oneself about the situation. It is important to frame the problem in an accurate way to find the right solution and also leaders need to take a long view of the implications of the decision and avoiding short term fixes.
Time Pressure:
One of the critical barriers to decision making is the time pressure in which the decisions have to be made as leaders. They have to make the difficult and accurate decision in a short period of time to make the business successful in the long run. A logical crafted decision that has been studied and taken after deliberation and long discussions is easy but time pressure is a critical barrier to success.
To avoid time pressure as a decision making a barrier, leaders can use heuristics or mental short cuts to decide in a short period of time. People who craft strategies to take fast yet accurate decisions get used to thinking in a logical way fast and reach a good decision on time.
Group Conflicts:
Group dynamics are an important aspect of the decision-making process. Many times a group of management staff can come up with solutions and ideas in a faster and more accurate way. But sometimes what happens is that there is a conflict between various members of the group and deciding in a collective way becomes difficult.
It is important to be a leader in situations like this and understand every point of view and then make the decision that is best suited for the situation and make the rest of the subordinates accept the decision. A good leader knows how to get rid of group conflicts and get people to work together effectively.
The above-mentioned barriers of decision making can be overcome by managers and leaders with practice and a natural ability to take logical decisions every day in business.
