3 Keys to Reaching Great Decisions Quickly

In a recent discussion with an SVP of Construction for a highly regarded national apartment provider, one of the #organizational challenges faced by #leadership is the speed at which critical #decisions are made by project management and other leaders. Often decisions are slowed, or completely stalled, out of concern that the wrong decision might be made. For leadership, the complete accuracy of the decision was less important than the decision itself, whereas for the PM’s the accuracy was paramount. Much of the frustration centered on how much information is enough to appropriately mitigate the #risk of a bad decision? In the book Blink, the author reveals that great decision makers aren't those who process the most information or spend the most time deliberating, but those who have perfected the art of "thin-slicing"--filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of variables.

All well and good but how much is enough, what are the few factors and how do we overcome the inhibitions that hamstring those who fear wrong decisions and their potential fall out?

Key 1: How much is enough? In an Inc. article, Jim Schleckser states that “You need information to take the risk out of decisions, but getting too much information has a real cost. Most normal business decisions can be made with 75 percent of the available information, focused on the right issues.”

Key 2: What are the “few” Factors? In determining the “right” factors to consider, Dave Saboe in a recent podcast on