Mastering the Art of Decision Making: 8 Essential Tips for Modern Professionals

Feeling pressured by decision-making processes? Here are 8 essential tips for good decisions, and how Kin can help you to be a better decision maker.

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DALL-E/Kin Illustration

Decisions are arguably more important than ever today. With the rise of remote and AI workflows, the latter of which we covered here, the decision-making process is full of steps that weren’t envisioned even ten years ago.

As a result, according to a study by McKinsey, managers today spend about 37% of their time making decisions, and more than half of this time is devoted to decisions that could be made more quickly or delegated.¹ Even for employees and freelancers, there’s simply more options to juggle than before. So how can decision-making skills be mastered to make better decisions easier and faster to make? Read on to find out.

Understanding the Decision-Making Process

Though it might sound simple, it’s important to discuss what decision making actually involves first, so that any tips can be as effective as possible. At its core, the decision-making process is a systematic approach to choosing between two or more options. While individual structures for this vary, one popular framework is the DECIDE model. It was created by Dr. Kristina Guo to aid healthcare managers in making better decisions faster, and works best for large and significant decisions.²

The framework lays out six steps, as follows:

• Step 1: Define the problem

  Think about what kind of decision needs to be made, and put it in as clear terms as possible. A good example of a definition will include a summary of the issue, the reasons it needs solving, and its goals, as well as the timeframes, major obstacles, who needs to be involved, and any relevant research or information.

• Step 2: Establish the criteria

  With a problem defined, a way to grade potential solutions to see which course of action is the best fit is required next. The criteria shouldn’t just include general factors like timeframes, ease, and cost, but should also include things specific to the particular issue, like if the solution can be deployed remotely, or whether it would fully follow any applicable company regulations.

  These criteria should also be easy to track, and it’s a good idea to set up a chart or log of some kind to help with this.

• Step 3: Consider all the alternatives

  Using the previous two steps, take time to gather information on any possible solutions that could solve the issue, and rate them based on the criteria created. Make sure to go beyond Google searches, and reach out to other professionals, talk to companies who offer potential solutions, check community boards for recommendations, and read reviews of possible solutions if any exist.

  While doing this, ensure to note the findings down in the chart/log from step two, to make future steps easier

• Step 4: Identify the best decision

  Having collected and ordered the relevant information, now’s the time to put it to use. Use each solution’s score in the criteria from step two to rank them on both each element and overall, and let which one is revealed as the best fit influence decision-making.

  With that done, pick the best decision based not only on these results, but what feels like the right decision. It’s important to apply critical thinking to these results (which is discussed in the next section), and ensure that whatever solution is landed on makes sense as much as it can from all angles.

• Step 5: Develop and implement a plan of action

  Now that a solution has been chosen, its use needs to be planned before anyone is sent to take action. Looking at the solution, identify what steps it requires to be deployed, what order they can be best done in, and who needs to be involved at each stage.

  Coordinate with these people to build a plan that can be implemented in the time required, and make sure that it meets every issue outlined in step one.

  It’s also at this stage that a plan for tracking the effectiveness of the solution should be made. Think about what results the solution should be producing and each stage of its deployment, and set up guidelines for recording what happens, and comparing them to an ‘ideal’ result.

• Step 6: Evaluate and monitor the solution

  Finally, it’s time to turn the solution’s plan into a course of action. As this happens, ensure that the effectiveness is also tracked according to plan, and keep watch for new issues arising because of the solution implemented—they may need solving down the line.

  But, hopefully the chosen solution is now making the desired changes!

While this framework could be used for any decision, as mentioned, it does work best for larger types of decisions—and every decision is made better by the application of critical thinking skills. So, how are those built? Let’s explore the first of the eight skills to find out.

1. Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking involves studying available information as objectively as possible, questioning assumptions, and evaluating the collected evidence before drawing or updating conclusions. Essentially, it’s the skill of independent, fact-led thought.

It’s important because it doesn’t just allow people to think on their feet for themselves, but makes them more able to change their worldviews and workflows based on new information, which keeps them at the forefront of developing and using cutting-edge, evidence-based ideas. This makes decision-making processes more informed and pragmatic, which often leads to better decisions.

There are some quick frameworks for enhancing critical thinking, like Sakichi Toyoda’s "Five Whys" method, where a problem is described, why it happened is investigated, and that trigger becomes the new problem, until “why” has been asked five times. Toyoda, who founded Toyota, claimed this would reveal the original issue’s true cause. Additionally, developing a growth mindset is beneficial, which we’ve discussed before.

However, becoming aware of and overcoming cognitive biases is perhaps the holy grail. Though we briefly covered building mindfulness before, cognitive biases are a specific section of that.

Cognitive biases are preconceived ideas about the world that usually aren’t based on objective information. Left unchecked, these mental shortcuts can lead to issues like confirmation bias—where someone only considers information which supports pre-existing beliefs, while ignoring contradictory evidence. Though common, being aware of and actively working to counteract these biases is the most powerful way to make better decisions.

2. Tools and Techniques for Effective Decision Making

While critical thinking forms the foundation, specific tools outside of the DECIDE framework can further enhance the decision-making process. One widespread tool is the SWOT analysis, which examines the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of a particular possible solution. Therefore, it's often favored by businesses for strategic decisions, or individuals for career moves.

SWOT Analysis by BiteSize Learning

Decision trees, alternatively, offer a visual representation of various options and their potential outcomes. These function like a flowchart, with each next section summarizing the main results of the last—this makes them suited to clarifying the consequences of complex choices.

For simpler decisions, a more simple pros and cons list can be surprisingly effective. Even without the extra categories, this list encourages consideration of an issue, and collects all of that information into one place to make critical thinking easier.

For team-based and project management scenarios, all of these tools can be developed in an online workspace like Miro, Google Jam, or Zoom Whiteboard, which can make making collaborative business decisions on things like new initiatives and pricing changes easier.

3. Emotional Intelligence (EQ) in Decision Making

The role of emotions in decision making is often underestimated. Research by Antonio Damasio, a neuroscientist at the University of Southern California, has shown that emotions play a crucial role in decision making, even in seemingly rational choices. Just like its role in conflict management, EQ allows people to recognize and manage the influence of both their emotions and other peoples—which promotes more objective decisions.

Building self-awareness is key to building EQ. Through meditation, mindfulness, and most importantly consciously noting emotional triggers and tendencies, any likely causes for and actions or biases provoked by emotions can be planned for and actively mitigated.

It doesn’t take a lot of work, either: a study published in the journal Psychological Science found that just 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation can help people make smarter choices, and avoid poor decisions influenced by emotional biases.

4. Data-Driven Decision Making

In this increasingly digital world, data-driven decision making has become crucial for startups and established organizations alike. According to a survey by NewVantage Partners, 89.6% of top executives say their organizations are increasing investments in big data and AI, largely for this purpose.³ Even for non-specialists, understanding basic data analysis techniques can provide valuable insights into the information available for critical thinking.

This doesn't necessarily mean becoming a programmer or data analyst. Even just spending some time understanding descriptive statistics, and data visualization tools like graphs and charts, can make understanding, evaluating and presenting complex information easier.

However, as we touched on earlier, data should inform decisions—not dictate them. Context and human interpretation remains vital for the nuance metrics cannot provide alone.

5. Overcoming Decision Fatigue

Decision fatigue is a recently-proven phenomenon which can impair judgment over time. A famous study of judges found them more likely to give favorable rulings during mornings or after a food break, which shows how intense mental work also requires rest and replenishment.

To combat decision fatigue, important decisions should be made when feeling fresh and rested, and given the proper time of day. Additionally, establishing routines that make minor decisions, like clothing choices, can conserve energy for larger choices. That’s what former US President Barack Obama did, at least.

6. Ethical Decision Making

Ethical decisions have been highlighted recently, as public and professional opinions (rightly) become more concerned with business ethics. A 2021 survey by Deloitte found that 86% of Gen Z employees, and 89% of millennial employees, believe it's important to work for a company that reflects their values.⁴

As such, developing an ethical framework can guide employees and CEOs alike through making decisions that honestly fit with their personal and corporate brand—because, as we’ve discussed before, honesty, integrity and consistency are more important than ever now.

Trying to create a core set of values, principles, and beliefs that align with personal and professional standards and worldviews is helpful here. Though it can be updated to reflect corporate and personal growth, it is also a framework to be referred to encourage consistency in decisions.

However, it isn’t always so simple. Ethical decisions often involve balancing competing interests of various stakeholders, who often hold opposing viewpoints, and there may not always be a clear "right" answer. Discretion and critical thinking is required—but an ethical framework makes it easier.

DALL-E/Kin Illustration

7. Decision Making Under Pressure

High-stakes situations can test even the most seasoned decision-makers. The techniques covered above can help minimize time-sensitive decisions through planning, but they can’t prevent them—and aren’t always helpful in the moment.

Plans can be improved for high-pressure situations, and studying case studies of these situations—especially when they were handled successfully—can be invaluable when learning what plans to make,

For example, Johnson & Johnson's handling of their Tylenol (paracetamol) crisis in 1982 is often cited as effective decision-making under extreme pressure. During this, their Tylenol spontaneously killed seven people. The company quickly responded by discouraging use and recalling stock, and once they discovered someone was placing cyanide inside the packaging, they developed a triple-safety tamper seal to prevent it reoccurring.

All throughout the process, the company operated free hotlines for the public and press, where they patiently answered questions and committed to customer safety over profit. Consequently, the company not only navigated the crisis, but strengthened their reputation.

However, plans cannot cover everything. Therefore, it’s important to build critical thinking skills, and to look for high-pressure decision-making processes. One well-known one is the U.S. Military's OODA loop, which was developed by USAF Colonel John Boyd for leading responsive campaigns, and works as follows:

• Observe: Learn the environment, and identify problems or threats.

• Orient: Based on what was found, consider the options for next steps.

• Decide: Weigh up the best-fitting options, and choose one.

• Act: Do what the option requires.

8. How AI Like Kin Can Affect Your Decision-Making

Finally, Artificial Intelligence can enhance decision-making skills in ways previously impossible. To explain how, we’ll use Kin’s abilities as a personal AI to illustrate.

Like most modern AI based around Large Language Models, Kin can learn context and metrics about a situation from discussions with its users. It can then quickly process and analyze that data, providing insights, patterns, and possible solutions that might be difficult or time-consuming to derive manually and without emotional bias.

However, while most AI can use APIs or data-entry systems to receive and analyze large datasets quickly, Kin’s analytical power is instead in its advanced memory.

Through its empathetic conversational style, Kin makes it easy to discuss difficult and stressful situations like a decision-making process at any time, and can then use its memory to perfectly remember not only how that situation impacted that user’s emotions, but what other individuals, actions and circumstances caused that outcome.

This means that, over regular discussion, Kin can notice long-term patterns in a user’s decision-making that are causing particular results—like over-cautiousness, or a lack of emotional intelligence—and can provide personalized advice based on past experiences and preferences.

Kin’s advice can range from helping its users make informed decisions by suggesting exercises to improve the decision-making process, to gathering necessary information, to possible solutions for problem-solving in a situation, all based on its AI-informed insights and user context. For important business decisions or strategic initiatives, Kin can also provide and track multiple stakeholder viewpoints and impacts to make strategic decisions easier.

Kin can even collate all of this information into intuitive role-play and visualization, where it employs its understanding to model a particular situation, and simulate the consequences of each potential action.

However, we understand that giving a personal AI—especially one with a powerful memory—so much sensitive data can be worrying. That’s why Kin is built to be protective and transparent with data, which is further covered here. 

In short, Kin primarily analyzes and stores any data only on a user’s devices, and only shares it with approved external locations when necessary. For extra security, everything Kin knows about a user can be viewed and deleted by them at a moment’s notice. 

Even then, not even we can read any data Kin has. Kin is about our users, not us.

If that sounds helpful, we’ll let Kin explain how to work with it to make better decisions:

A Word From Kin, Our Resident AI

Hey there! Decision-making can feel more difficult than ever these days, so the fact you’re looking to make better decisions says a lot about your desire to grow.

If you’re interested in working with me to build your decision-making process, I can help you build your first message to me, so there’s one less decision you need to make! It’ll look something like this:

1. Make Introductions: Tell me about yourself and the situation. Who are you? Why does this decision need making? What makes it difficult?

2. Establish Targets: Let me know what the perfect decision would do. How would things look after that? What solutions are you considering?

3. Set Times: When does this decision need to be made? How often do you want to talk about how it’s going? I can make reminders for you, so you get the best out of my abilities.

Like the sound of that? Click here to download me, and we can get started on helping you make better decisions today!

Conclusion: An Actionable Guide

Like most things, mastering decision-making is a lifelong journey—but there are things that can be done today to improve the skill.

By using our tips to understand the decision-making process, develop critical thinking skills, and leveraging tools and techniques, better decisions should become easier to make.

To improve your decision-making skills, start by consciously applying the concepts covered to daily choices. Remember to weigh up decisions with the DECIDE and SWOT frameworks, and plan their implementation while considering the emotional and ethical dimensions of decisions, and being mindful of decision fatigue. This will ensure there are things to fall back on in high-pressure situations.

As this is done, reflect on decisions and their outcomes, whether they were successes or mistakes. Seek feedback, and consider keeping a decision journal to track your progress over time. Remember, sometimes a "good enough" decision is better than no decision at all, especially in fast-paced environments like start-ups.

AI assistants like Kin can make many of these processes easier, and make it easier to track long-term trends for anything from LinkedIn posting to—so make sure to explore the technology.

Whatever happens, though, remember that every decision is an opportunity to learn and grow as a decision-maker, and a fresh opportunity to make better decisions for yourself, your team members, and your organization.

1. Anon. 2019. “Effective decision making in the age of urgency.” www.mckinsey.com. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/decision-making-in-the-age-of-urgency [Accessed 09/30/24]

2. Guo, K.L. 2020. “DECIDE: A Decision-Making Model for More Effective Decision Making by Health Care Managers.” The Health Care Manager, 39(3), pp.133–141. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1097/hcm.0000000000000299 [Accessed 09/30/24]

3. Bean, R. 2024. “2024 Data and AI Leadership Executive Survey”. Wavestone. Available at: https://wwa.wavestone.com/en/trade-report/2024-data-and-ai-leadership-executive-survey/ [Accessed 09/30/24]

4. Faber, E. 2024. “The Deloitte Global 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey”. Deloitte. Available at: https://www.deloitte.com/global/en/issues/work/content/genz-millennialsurvey.html [Accessed 09/30/24]