Making a BIG Decision – Key Approaches I’ve Used Recently

In the last few months, I’ve been thinking deeply about how to contribute to the world. And, as you know, every organization goes through this process as well. They set a mission and vision. If they’re smart, they review their mission and vision on a regular basis and set plans to enact both. So hear me ponder how I’ve reviewed my mission lately, and how we can use decision-making skills to help us continually meet our personal mission or help organizations meet theirs.

I took myself on a journey. But first, I want to share a basic principle with you. Sometimes it makes sense to just make a decision – jump in without too much information and see how things evolve.

But most of the time if the decision is really important, it’s better to do your ground work. It could be called your foundational setting. It’s like the roots in this banner above. You want to make sure you have your decision really firmly rooted, with a lot of the complexities of the situation thought through. That could be represented in the circles around the roots in this banner.

If you make a decision without everyone knowing the facts, the bigger context, and the probability of what their decision will result in, the decision may go underground. People will sabotage it. People will refuse to enact it. It can take a lot of time before you realize you have to backtrack and redo the decision. That decision making looks a bit like this:

As a better alternative, when its an important decision the process will look more like the graph below. I.e., there’s a lot of weighing pros and cons, understanding, sharing perspectives, reaching consensus, and the decision comes out much later but it’s a solid decision that exponentially grows because the right amount of prep work was done.

So let me share with you the process I used recently when I was thinking about my role on the Damiana project. The first thing I did was just put a lot of different questions in my mind on post it notes. I literally wrote one question per post it note.  Some of the question were, why do I stay involved? What am I so excited about? What have been my contributions so far? What has been replenishing? What is getting in the way of some things not being joyful? What is the vision I have for myself with Damiana? What is my purpose at this life stage? What values do I hold in this project? What will help me stay committed and joyful to Damiana? What is my action plan for the next 6-9 months?

Here are two graphics I created for two of the questions above just to show you how you can have fun with the process with color and creativity. The first is about what is my purpose at this life stage and the second is the values I hold in this work or project.

There is so much to say about decision making but it needs to be done carefully. When you do take the time, whether for your own life or for work, doing it well gives you great joy and clarity. If you want to know more about self-reflection, I will be participating in a webinar on December 17^th called The Power of Facilitation in Self Reflection Work.

Other Related Blogs

The Power of Self Reflection: Why and How

When the Stakes Are High – Facilitating Through Important Decision Making

Decision Making Authority: When You Have It and When You Don’t

Create Inspiring, Captivating Mission and Values