#decision making process

Is intuition a sufficient tool for making business decisions today? This method worked in the past, when changes in the market could be predicted and prepared for. Today, changes happen all the time - you can trust your intuition, but it's better to make your decisions based on information flowing from data. 

it is not difficult - we have many systems in our companies, we base our activities on more and more sophisticated technologies. And wherever there is technology, there is data. And since there are data - it is also possible to base decision-making processes on them. 

Thanks to this, your company can be more flexible in operation and react faster to changes in the market. In a data-driven organization, anyone can leverage the insights available in pre-built analytics.

From the article you will learn:

What is a data-driven business? 2. How to choose the data that is crucial in making business decisions? 3. How to turn insights into actions?

Data-driven – make business decisions more efficiently

Viewing reports, controlling the results is nothing new. What distinguishes the so-called data-driven businessfrom what we've known so far? The difference lies in what data and how much of it we use today in the decision-making process, and how we process this data and how quickly we have access to information. 

To really drive your business with data, you need to think about how to use it skillfully. Companies that have already learned this have excellent insight into the behavior of their customers, they focus on their needs. In addition, data that they only collected so far, e.g. for handling requests, have started to work, which makes the cost of their storage more justified. 

However, it is important to remember that the huge amount of data collected will not always contribute to improving the way you do business. The real value of data is the knowledge you extract from it. So how to use data effectively?

Strategy - mark key areas

Start by revising your goals, focusing on those areas that will contribute to their achievement. Companies that produce goods must first of all ensure that consumers choose their products and not their competitors. 

The fight continues, the message to the customer is important, but also the place on the store shelf. There's still distribution and a retailer on the way. Determining what data is needed to properly assess the sales process and which data will unnecessarily distort the image is therefore essential. 

Data that will allow you to properly assess sales activities are created in many places, both in the company's systems and distributors or in stores. Omitting an important source or including an unnecessary one will distort the picture.

Selection - prepare datasets

Now that you know what has the greatest impact on your goals and what questions you need to know the answers to, it's time to choose datasets that can answer your questions. Check what data you have, where they come from, how you receive them. Is this data only from the systems you use in your company. 

Or do you collect sales data not only from your sales support system, but also from distributors? The more data sources, the more attention should be paid to whether the data concerning one area can be easily combined with each other. 

After all, even in one company, data from different departments is often difficult to juxtapose in a meaningful way, even though they concern, for example, the company's customers.

Analysis - collect data and create visualizations

Once you know exactly what data you need, think about who will manage it. Most often they are department managers. If the data also comes from outside your company's systems, you also need to know who will be responsible for clearing data at business partners. This knowledge is essential to properly integrate data from so many sources and ensure that they always contain the necessary, predetermined datasets. 

The point is that if you create some kind of analytics, every indicator, every chart must always be based on the same data without having to check whether the data populating the analytics is correct. In a data-driven organizationit is important to create appropriate connections between data that give insight into the current situation. In addition, it gives the opportunity to share information with a larger group of interested employees, giving them knowledge and better opportunities for organized, coherent action across the company.

Insights – turn information into action

How you present the collected data affects its usability. Choosing the right form of visualization is very important. It is not without reason that there are so many BI tools available that allow you to present information in a way suited to the subject they concern. Because the right presentation of observations is not about a beautiful picture, but about a clear message. One that is understandable, easy to relate to other visualizations. One that is associated with exactly what it is supposed to present. And one on the basis of which it is simply very easy and simple to decide what actions to take.

Tailored analytics - digital reflection of the company

There are several core skills of critical thinking that are essential for effective problem-solving and decision-making. Here are some of the most important skills:

Observation: The ability to observe and gather information from the environment, including people, objects, and events.

Analysis: The ability to break down complex ideas or problems into smaller, more manageable components in order to understand them better.

Interpretation: The ability to interpret and make sense of information by identifying patterns, themes, and relationships between ideas.

Inference: The ability to draw conclusions or make educated guesses based on available information, taking into account any relevant evidence or context.

Evaluation: The ability to critically evaluate arguments and ideas by assessing their strengths, weaknesses, and logical consistency.

Explanation: The ability to clearly and effectively communicate complex ideas or concepts to others, using relevant evidence and examples to support your arguments.

Self-regulation: The ability to monitor and reflect on your own thought processes, recognizing and challenging any biases or assumptions that may be hindering your ability to think critically.

Problem-solving: The ability to identify problems, analyze them, and come up with effective solutions.

Decision-making: The ability to make sound decisions based on available information and logical reasoning.

7 Stages of effortless decision making process.

It's certain that everyone at one point in life has been in a situation where they couldn't make the right choices. The consequence of that was a state of confusion.

Decision making is not supposed to be a difficult task. By knowing the right decision making process, decisions could be reached effectively and effortlessly every time there is a need for it. https://bit.ly/3Y3zgk8

Below are 7 the stages of decision making process:

Define the problem.

"If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions." - Albert Einstein.

Everytime a situation calls for a decision, take the time to identify the real problem.

Without identifying the real problem, it would be very hard to reach a decision on the real solutions.

The best way to identify the real problem is to carry out a research.

Carry out a research.

Carry out a research, ask questions, go back in time, search the present and make projections into the future to gather enough data and information that would reveal the problem.

Leave no stone unturned, it's a research. If you knew what the problem was and the right decision to make, you wouldn't be carrying out the research?

Albert Einstein said, 'If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"

What are the alternatives?

The research should present you with alternative answers to your questions.

Consider each alternative course of action on its merits and prune them down until you're left with the best options.

Don't pick anyone yet.

Seek advice.

Seek the advice of those you wouldn't hesitate to trade places with.

You shouldn't be surprised to know that people are often willing to share their success stories with enthusiastic listeners

Which is best among the alternatives?

Armed with your best alternatives and the advice of your role models, analyze all options, this time, to pick the best alternative.

Develop your plan of action?

Develop a plan of action around the best alternative you picked in stage 5. Then move on to stage 7.

Implement your plan, assess results as they come in and make adjustments where necessary.

Execute your plan of action and put it on your daily schedule as a priority.

Protect this priority and let nothing else steal time and effort from it.

Be ruthless in your implementation by removing from your schedule, all other conflicting priorities.

As results begin to come in, assess them.

There's no guarantee that your plan will succeed at the first attempt of implementation.

What should you do when it fails?

Ronald Reagan answered, ""The more the plans fail the more the planner’s plan.”

What is a Decision Making Process?

A decision-making process is a series of steps that a team or organization takes to decide. The decisions are often made as a group and may be informed by experience, input from external stakeholders, or even market conditions. Decision-making processes can structure in many ways. For example, they may be organized around creating an overall plan for an organization’s goals (such as becoming…

DISCOVER HOW YOU MAKE DECISIONS AND HOW TO MAKE BETTER DECISIONS

The Decision Filters IQ Matrix explores how we assimilate, process, and integrate information from our environment and how that affects our daily choices and decisions. The decisions we make can either empower us or limit us. They can either move us toward our goals or pull us in the other direction. On the surface, information, is, of course, neutral. It doesn’t hold any real power over us. It’s rather how we interpret and personalize that information that determines the effect it has on our lives.

This map walks you through a series of filters that we use to process information from our external environment. Understanding these filters will help you become more aware of how you’re processing information, conversations, and the feedback you receive from your surroundings. You can then use that awareness to take conscious control of these filters and, therefore, optimize the decisions you make each day.