Every day we make thousands of decisions. What are we going to have for breakfast? Should we go out for a meal? And what is the best course of action in tackling that issue or developing that campaign? Despite the fact we do it many times a day we spend no time in considering how we make decisions and importantly how we can make better decisions.
When a crisis hits, or a serious issue is upon you it is stressful with a huge amount of pressure to make good decisions and quickly. The whole business will be looking for you to ‘make things better’ and limit the impact of what has happened. They will want you to have those instant answers and to be confident in the approach.
So, how do we get more comfortable in dealing with crisis situations when we don’t deal with them regularly? We need to understand how we approach decision-making, the processes that we go through, and how they impact what we do.
Building resilience is essential for managing tough situations but given the complex and chaotic nature of the world, it is something we would all benefit from. This can be done with some self-reflection and learning how to be more effective in making decisions when you are not under pressure. It is also essential for us to recognise the biases that we use when we make decisions. As communicators, we aim to ensure inclusivity in what we do but we could be blocking this with our own thought processes.
In my latest book Everyday Communication Strategies, I devote a whole chapter to the difficult subject of ethical decision-making. We all have a responsibility to ensure that we are doing this and doing it even when we have to work quickly with limited information. The benefit of devoting some time to this little-considered issue will be the ability to deal more effectively with the uncertainty of modern life, those emerging issues and that inevitable crises.
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