It’s 9 PM and the kids are finally asleep. As you walk into the kitchen to pour yourself a glass of red wine to end your day, you notice that familiar glow emanating from your laptop. It sucks you in like a beam of light from a UFO. So you sit down and key in your password.
Next to your laptop is your to-do list. It’s a mile long and filled with things that have been there for weeks.
But there’s one thing on the list that’s been lingering for a couple months. It’s a can you’ve been kicking down the road repeatedly.
You know the thing I’m talking about.
It’s a big decision. Or a big project that needs to be kicked off. Or maybe it’s a nagging problem that you just haven’t dealt with.
You want to cross it off your list, but you’re not ready to commit yet. You need more information. You want more options. One more conversation. Or you just need to finish this other thing before you can deal with that big thing.
But you’re tired. So you decide to sleep on it. Again.
Look…I’ve been here. As a recruiting leader, your entire day is a relentless assault of decisions. But indecision is hurting you more than you think.
When you fail to make decisions or dwell on an issue too long, it wears you down. It burns you out. It makes you look bad too. It makes your boss think you can’t get things done. And depending on the issue, it causes your team to lose faith in you as a leader.
So what can you do?
The good news is, you don’t have to have all the answers. It’s more about having a framework to give you the confidence to take action or make a decision faster than you normally would.
FIVE FRAMEWORKS TO MAKE DECISIONS FASTER
Here are five simple but powerful tools you can use to pull yourself out of the quicksand of indecision:
Adopt the Jeff Bezos One-Way/Two-Way Door Framework
To make faster decisions, think about passing through a doorway and ask yourself one question…is this decision reversible? A "two-way door" (Changing a process, scheduling a meeting, etc) can be easily undone. Make these low-risk, reversible decisions quickly. A "one-way door" (firing someone, buying an ATS, etc) requires slow, careful thought. Most of your daily decisions are two-way doors.
Use Colin Powell’s 40-70 Rule
Most people make decisions when they have 100% of the information they need. Colin Powell was a four-star general in the US army who repeatedly made high-stakes decisions. He stressed that you should gather between 40-70% of the available information, then trust your gut and make the call. If you wait for more than 70%, the opportunity has already passed you by. If you act on less than 40%, you’re taking a big risk and you should gather more information.
Develop a Criteria-based Decision Trigger
When faced with a decision involving two or more options, define the 3-5 absolute must-have criteria. Set a non-negotiable deadline for the decision. Choose the first option that meets your criteria and move on.
Create a Decision Matrix
For those bigger, more complex choices get the options out of your head and onto a spreadsheet. List your pros, cons, and criteria down the first column and your decision options across the top. Score them, then add up the points and make the call. I use this as a key data point when hiring or making major purchases.
Go with Good Enough
Author and psychologist Barry Schwartz wrote about something called the Paradox of Choice. Humans tend to think MORE options are better, but science proves the opposite. Too many choices lead to anxiety, paralysis, and indecision. So when faced with a key decision, ideation isn’t always the best option. Get clear on what "good enough" looks like and then take decisive action when you see it.
IT’S TIME TO CROSS OFF SOME TO-DOS!
The best Talent Acquisition leaders deploy systems and frameworks for making decisions quickly. In fact, a Harvard Business Review study found that decisive leaders are 12 times more likely to be high-performing.
So, remember your mile-long to-do list? Take another look at it and see if you can apply any of these techniques to jump-start some action and cross off some old tasks.
The more decisions you make, the more confident you’ll become at doing so with less information.
You’ll realize how many of your decisions are really two-way doors you don’t really need to dwell on for weeks at a time.
The real payoff of all this comes as you get better at making decisions quickly and create momentum in your function. You’ll quickly become known and respected as an action-oriented leader who gets sh*t done!
What's one decision you've been putting off that you can target using one of these frameworks?