Making Better Business Decisions In order to get the most out of training, Simply Right will be sharing links to help increase your personal development. As supervisors, you have to make tough decisions with uncertain outcomes. This is the nature of our business. Quick Tips: Making Better Business Decisions Keep Track of what is going on in your industry Know the facts. Subscribe to industry news sources, attend demos by vendors, get involved in industry conferences or trade shows. Don’t make the mistake of waiting for Simply Right to tell you where to go. We encourage our supervisors to find new opportunities to grow and learn what happening in our industry. Sources We Use at Simply Right: LinkedIn – Follow our vendors, sponsors, theaters, and facilities we service. Clearlink.com – Home of Sanitary Maintenance, Contracting Profits, and Facility Cleaning Decisions Magazines. CMMonline.com – Cleaning & Maintenance Management. BoxOfficeMojo.com – Database on film performance and predictions for big blockbuster movies.. Expect the Unexpected You cannot predict the future. Things happen. Keep plans flexible enough that you can adapt to the unexpected, without getting frustrated. Focus on What Really Matters Carefully think through the situation and ask yourself does it align with Simply Right’s strategy. Create a plan for your responsibilities and then act on it. Avoid Isolation Do not solely rely on a few trusted insiders to get your facts. Talk to customers, vendors, partners, employees and even competitors. Force yourself to find possible solutions. Be Decisive, but Not Hyper-reactive This is probably the hardest of all. You don’t want to over-react and make a bad situation worse. Everybody makes mistakes. You can limit the damage by following some of the suggestions provided here. Smart decision making, whether it's who to hire or what strategy to play, is a skill that sets you apart personally and professionally.
Further Learning for LinkedIn: Making Business Decisions In this short course, Todd Dewett shows you five simple steps to making better decisions. He'll help you evaluate if you have enough time, sufficient information, the right people involved, and other key factors necessary to making strong choices.
Quiz: Making Business Decisions 1. If you face a decision in a novel situation, often times the best way to approach it is with intuition. a. True b. False 2. In Connection with the 80/20 rule, it is often appropriate to invest more time and systematically approach decisions that are part of. a. what has been specifically prescribed by your boss. b. the 80% (decisions that are part of your job, not strategically important). c. both the 20% and 80% (all decisions). d. the 20% (strategic decisions that have real impact on the team and organization). 3. When using data to inform your decision, you need to a. consider whether the information you have is accurate and if you have the right amount. b. reflects on how far we have come along in the world of information technology. c. minimizes the amount of numerical data and focus on decision-making theory. d. use all the data points you have your disposal. 4. Which of the following is NOT a reason to bring in others into your decision-making process? a. They might have expertise that you don’t have. b. It is an opportunity to try new solutions. c. They will support your decision even if they do not necessarily agree with it. d. They can act as a hedge cognitive biases. 5. Whether or not your decision “sticks” has a little less to do with people skills, and much to do with the quality of the decision itself. True False