What makes a quality decision?

I’ve been in the Wise Women’s Council for the past two years. It’s been a nourishing community to navigate life as both an entrepreneur and a mother. The group's support helped me shape a parenting style that works for me and to up-level my business. A favorite part of the program is its stellar guest teachers, who’ve shaped my thinking about business. Decision engineer and coach Michelle Florendo is one such woman.

Before meeting Michelle, I felt able to make decisions, but I rarely felt clear. Her perspective on decisions has changed my life. You can learn more about the world of decision engineering — yes, this is a thing — on her podcast.

The simplest lesson I’ve learned from Michelle is: The quality of a decision is not the same thing as the quality of the outcome.

You can make a great decision that leads to an outcome you don’t love. The less than ideal outcome doesn’t mean you made a bad decision.

This is important for women to understand. We take responsibility for things that aren’t ours to own and for things we can’t control. Worse, we feel guilty when those things don’t unfold the way we want. We assume if we had done or been better, a better outcome could have unfolded. That is not always the case.

Clarity and stability come from a process that aligns with what matters to you. You can ask how you'll know you’ve made the best decision with the information you have or can obtain.

I now center my big decisions by asking myself what matters most to me. What objectives am I trying to satisfy in making this decision?

This breaks down the pro/con list — a go-to method that creates more confusion. A pro/con list gives you a lot of information but fails to organize or sort it. The outcome of a pro/con list is seeing the positive and negative of each option. I rarely feel able to make a clear, grounded decision.

Michelle's process allows me to want a single decision to meet many criteria. What's most important is often more than one thing. This is especially true with complex decisions.

I had several objectives for a recent decision I made:

• Financial viability.

• Creative freedom.

• Energy to invest.

• Trust in my ability (bet on myself)
   

With the objectives clear, I could do two things:

1. Assess the degree to which each option met those objectives.

2. Enroll others to identify options that satisfied my objectives.

Those two things widened my option set and created a clear choice.

The outcome of my decision is still unfolding. But the decision making process led to clarity and steadiness. Despite the ambiguity present in any complex decision, I’m confident I made the best decision for me. Notice I didn’t say “right” decision. That was intentional.
 

Call for Reflection: 

Think of a decision you’re waiting to make. What objectives are you trying to meet with your decision?

Shine on, 

Alicia