i am good at rational decision-making!

 i am good at rational decision-making!

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)

As we have discussed some of the myths of decision-making, most of us have one more misconception: "believing that i am good at rational or logical decision-making." 

In a professional environment, as a manager or leader, we firmly believe that we make decisions based on the facts, logical conclusions upon data analysis, and structured evaluation of pros and cons. It is not true, and many psychology studies proved that finally, emotions overdrive logic.

Our decisions are driven mainly by emotions which sometimes lead to mistakes or substandard performance.

For example, you might have encountered an experience when you wanted to purchase any gadgets or home appliances. You might have set the budget, decided the mode of purchase, browsed, verified with many people, and decided to buy a particular brand or product. However, at the last moment, that decision might have been changed just by one adverse information or news about the brand /model or even a solid positive opinion about an alternative brand or model by someone close to you. All your logical thinking and  decisions were collapsed just by one emotional feeling of "not to be on the wrong side."

I have a personal experience that one of my books was selling reasonably well on Amazon with positive reviews till one anonymous buyer gave an adverse comment about me and the content. Post that review; there was a considerable reduction in the sales performance. The reason could be the reader's buying decision is biased towards "not to be on the wrong side." Logically readers should go by the count of positive vs. negative comments, but reality would be biased to the latest negative comments. That is the power of emotions over any rational or logical thinking.

So, since emotion is so powerful in our decision-making process, we need to be aware of our state of mind when making important decisions in a professional environment like taking calls on people, business expansion, investment, reacting to customer's complaints. Any impulsive decisions we take in an extreme emotional state will lead to a wrong or negative consequence.

The next option is to defer the decision when we are highly emotional.

Awareness is required on emotional state when we make a decision!

Have a great week ahead!

Book -The Almanack of Naval Ravikant

 Book -The Almanack of Naval Ravikant 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)

 

Recently i came across the book -The Almanack of Naval Ravikant -A guide to wealth and happiness as recommended by one of my wellwishers.

Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur, philosopher, and investor who is famous for sharing his principles for building wealth and creating long-term happiness. This book is a collection of his wisdom and experience which were shared in twitter and podcast for last 10 years.

Unlike research-based books, this book is a compilation of many wisdom and principles related to creating wealth and pursuing happiness by leveraging more of today's advancement in technology and business environment.

Easy to read and relate to in today's context.Recommend this book if you would like to get more perspective on wealth creation and happiness in today's context and from living personality.

This book is available for free download in the following website
https://www.navalmanack.com

Have a great week ahead!

How does decision-making improve self-confidence?

 How does decision-making improve self-confidence? 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)

As we are discussing the myths about decision making, one of the myths is that self-confident people are capable of making decisions as they are sure in their thinking process to select the right choices. It may be partially true as naturally, the decision-making is obvious for them.

In reality, not all people are confident in all circumstances. One finding says that 85 % of people suffer from low self-esteem, affecting communication and decision-making capability in the professional environment. How to improve the confidence of those people to make better decisions?

In my personal experience, whenever i  struggle with low confidence in any aspect, i use to make decisions and then act on them in a small way; eventually, it improves my confidence. 

The process goes like this. When we decide to work on any issues, there is always a 50 % probability of success. That probability of success will give positive reinforcement to take slightly higher-level decisions and actions. Inturn that likelihood of success leads to making even more higher-level decisions and actions. In that way, an individual can increase confidence.

For example,

Most of us have fear in public speaking or stage fear to communicate the idea or present. When you decide to crack and plunge into action by addressing a few of your known colleagues or friends, you positively reinforce speaking in a small gathering.

Next time, when you decide to do it in a larger audience of known people, your subconscious mind pushes positively, as you already demonstrated in a small group. So, you can make it relatively easy.

Next time, when you decide to do it in a larger audience of unknown people, your previous decision and success positively push you to do it well.

 By doing so many times, your confidence in public speaking improves as you primarily decide to do it.


Hence, when you make a small series of decisions and actions in any professional challenges or workplace issues, the probability of success makes you a more confident person rather than being a confident person makes you a good decision-maker.
 
As a professional, the more you motivate yourself to take a series of minor decisions and actions, eventually, that will make you more confident in your professional life.
 
Have a great week ahead.

"i need to be efficient in decision making."

 "i need to be efficient in decision making."

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)

Last week, we discussed a misconception and reasoning behind  " indecisiveness," there is one more misconception, which is quite opposite of indecision. That is urge on "i need to be more efficient on decision making."
 
According to this mindset, we measure our efficiency as the speed of making decisions and the quantum of decisions we take every day. Compared to inactiveness, efficiency is relatively better, however, what matters for managers and leaders is effectiveness—the impact of the decisions on others and the business.
 
For example, consider this situation.
 
In one of the organizations, the business head is engaged and busy in instructing the team on many trivial issues like approving the leave application, fixing the connectivity issues by calling the relevant agency, and so on. Despite having an excellent team to do all mundane decisions and actions, he seemed fulfilled when he engaged himself in many trivial decisions.

Eventually, he is getting decision fatigue. Most of the critical business decisions like streamlining delivery, productivity, and supply chain decisions are not being taken by him, which he only can take decisions in the organization. The urge and practice of involving and jumping into all decisions eventually affect the organization's prospects.
 
When you are growing, it is expected to make impactful decisions than the speed of the decisions, even in trivial issues.

I have witnessed one of my ex-colleague who was considered a bright candidate at a young age due to his speed in making decisions and making things happen. When he was promoted to senior management level, he eventually lost his creditability due to his impulsive decision-making style in many initiatives, which backfired against him and the organization.
 
Except in emergencies, quick  / speed decisions are not required to solve chronic issues or any strategic future-related challenges. 
 
Having the idea of being efficient by making fast, more decision-making is just a misconception. It just needs awareness!

As professionals, we need to be aware of our effectiveness by making impactful decisions that we can only take.

Have a great week ahead.