5 Steps For Making Quality Decisions

Last week, Olivier Blanchard posted a great piece on ‘What Won’t You Compromise On’. Having written about the same thing myself last week with practically the same title, it was very pertinent. Olivier has motivated me to take something that has been in my drawer for a few weeks and map it out.

I have long lived by making what I call ‘quality decisions based on personal convictions’. In other words, I make decisions about what I will do and won’t do, and where I will go and won’t go, long before I ever have the opportunity to enact my decision.

Quality decisions are like boundaries that mark out our land and make intangible convictions into tangible and measurable markers.

The 5 Steps

1. Content. Any decision we make is based on the available content, not necessarily our desire.

2. Clarity. Content is not enough for a quality decision. Clarity makes content relevant by realising requirements, responsibilities and return.

3. Conviction. This is far deeper than feeling or emotion, both of which change over time. A conviction may take years to build. But it also may take seconds.

4. Quality Decision. A quality decision takes the intangible conviction and makes it tangible.

5. Action. Finally, a quality decision enables that most precious human resource, action. Not only does action solidify the decision, but also assists in the negotiating and tweaking of your decisions.

So to wrap it up: Content –> Clarity –> Conviction –> Quality Decision –> Action