Ask-Corinne-Torres

Make up your mind! 7 effective decision making tips to get you started

Effective decision making means that you can "make things happen," instead of just "letting things happen."  Decision making can be hard as almost any decision involves conflicts or dissatisfactions.  Avoiding decisions often seems easier. Successful decision making means making a choice.  The difficult part is often to pick the right solution amongst very good alternatives.    Yet, decision making is a key component to your time management skills and how you keep control of your time and your success! You can easily improve your decision making skills by:

 

1.    Analysing the problem. Gather as much facts as possible.  What is exactly causing the problem? Why should it be solved?  What are you addressing? What resources are needed?

2.    Listing all alternatives.  Generate ideas for possible solutions. List the pros and cons of each alternative, using your standards and judgement criteria.  Which one offers you the best course of action? Why?  

3.    Drawing up an Action Plan. Once you have made the decision, put it into action and execute your plan.  Transform your decision into a specific plan of action.  Define the steps needed.   Identify the final step and work backwards.  Create specific initiatives at each step to facilitate focus and organise the resources you might need.

4.    Being objective in viewing the problem that demands decisions. Try to avoid making decisions when you are upset, tired, or under great stress. Be objective and specific. Focus on solving the problem, not on your emotions.

5.    Developing sensitivity to the individual responses of persons affected by the decision.  Personalities differ, and best to be aware of the kind and amount of impact on individual persons as a consequence of a decision.

6.    Evaluating your results.   What lessons can be learnt?  Evaluate the outcome of your decision and action steps to determine its effectiveness and create habits to reduce time in decision making in the future. This is an important step for further development of your decision making skills and judgement. Some management decisions can be made on a routine basis until your situation changes.

7.    Accepting the responsibility. After you make a decision, you need to accept the responsibility and consequences for making it. You need to be willing to live with it.

 

Corinne Torres is a Personal Growth Coach, specialising in Executive Management Counselling and Performance Coaching.  More information on our website www.resultscoaching.com.au

Mentoring Matters: your workforce is your competitive advantage

Strategy Mentoring stands little chance of making an impact if the effort is scattershot and there is no coherent roadmap for moving forward together.  Corinne Torres looks at how you can develop and run a successful mentoring program in the workplace, regardless of the size of your organisation.

 

Is there a potential for the mentoring strategy?

Start by researching its potential by collaborating with key people in your workplace.  As the aim of the program is to assist the professional development of another person(s), identify the benefits that would be consistent with your company’s philosophy and goals.  By establishing a framework around learning, you are building scaffoldings to prevent lapses in focus and motivation.  Does your organisation have the support and resources to carry your program forward? What structure would minimise interference with normal working activities?

 

Are people interested in being mentors in your workplace suitably qualified?

Mentoring is a relationship, not just a procedure or activity. Look beyond qualifications and business experience as soft skills play a greater role.  Highly valued is the ability to listen, give and receive feedback effectively whilst providing information, guidance and constructive comments, in a supportive and caring environment. A fine mixture of confidence and assertiveness is required to highlight shortfalls where necessary, and evaluate the decisions and plans adopted by the participant, without taking over the problems and trying to solve them.  Working intuitively, the mentor must be able to work in and around personality styles. 

 

How do you match participants?

Like in every relationship, chemistry is important. Only team-up participants who click when they meet.  The mentor should not be, where possible, the direct manager of the person being mentored, to avoid potential shortcomings in performance or conflict of interest in career management.  You want participants to feel at ease airing difficulties, disputes and grievances openly without fearing negative consequences or damaging relationships.   

 

What skills and knowledge are to be learned / assessed?  What are the gaps?

Because of its long-term focus on personal growth and learning, the effectiveness of your strategy depends on identifying clearly what skills and knowledge are to be learned and how results are to be measured.  What would be the benchmarks for success?  What would be a reasonable timeframe? Arranged over time in a range of contexts to be meaningful, the methods of assessments can take a variety of forms (observation of performance, skills application, written or oral assessment, work placement etc) and will depend greatly on your working environment and the scope of your program. 

 

How do you monitor the mentoring arrangements?

Bring people on the journey with you.  Encourage participants to reflect on the processes in place and the outcomes to identify opportunities for improvement.  Like any other arrangements in the workplace, a mentoring strategy is a dynamic program subject to review. 

 

A mentoring program can be rewarding but is not for everyone.  In theory, its implementation can create positive change and foster relationships within a culture of creativity and innovation. In practice, supporting a mentoring strategy can be draining and fall short of expectations without structured planning and sound analysis.

 

Make Time for Success! 6 easy steps to quickly take control of your time

Do you feel overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do? Do you face a constant barrage of looming deadlines? And do you sometimes just forget to do something important, so that people have to chase you to get work done?  Eliminate the most common time wasters and you will quickly take your personal effectiveness to the next level.

1.   Focus on results:  Many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity, but achieve very little because they're not concentrating their effort on the things that matter the most. Concentrate on results, not on being busy.  Analyse how you actually spend your time.  Write it down.  You may be shocked to see the amount of time that you waste on non-core tasks!

2.   Beat procrastination: Many people procrastinate to some degree.  Why you procrastinate can depend on both you and the task, and often can be reduced to one main reason: you find the task overwhelming.  Break the project into a set of smaller, more manageable tasks. Start with some quick, small tasks if you can, perhaps start with the tasks that appeal to you the most, even if these aren't the logical first actions. You'll feel that you're achieving things, and so perhaps the whole project won't be so overwhelming after all.

3.   Draw up an Action Plan:  An Action Plan is a very simple yet very powerful tool, and is essential if you are not going to forget things.  Ask yourself: “what exactly do I need to do to achieve this?” Be specific.  Simply list the tasks that you need to carry out, and in the order that you need to complete them.  Keep the Action Plan with you as you carry out the work and update it as you go along with any additional activities or ideas that come up.  If you think you'll be trying to achieve a similar objective again, revise your Action Plan after the work is complete, by changing anything that could have gone better. 

4.   Schedule your most challenging tasks for the times of day when your energy is highest. Most people find they function at different levels of effectiveness at different times of day as their energy levels fluctuate. Your effectiveness may vary depending on the amount of sugar in your blood, the length of time since you last took a break, routine distractions etc.

5.   Stay on course:  Scheduling is a process and you need an effective system to stay on course. This can be a diary, paper-based organizer, PDA or a software package. The best solution depends entirely on your circumstances.  It will show you how much time is available to you and when.

 

6. Manage interruptions: Obviously you cannot predict when interruptions will occur. Do not book yourself out.  You will give yourself some flexibility to rearrange your schedule to deal with urgent issues, and you will prevent stress from creeping up.

 

Corinne Torres is a Personal Growth Coach, specialising in Executive Management Counselling and Performance Coaching.  More information visit our website www.resultscoaching.com.au