Friday, June 19, 2009

Decision Making Ability

In our daily life, we take a lot of decisions everyday, some of them are routine while some involve some thinking from our side. And it is these decisions that we take , that has a profound effect on the way we lead our lives in present as well as in future. But we never give much credence to ourselves or to our ability to tackle sound decisions in our life. And we have all been involved from simple to many complex decision making activities at some point in our life.

But, even though we take lots of personel decisions every day , it is only in the context of our workplace that our decision making ability emerges as a good skill. As employees and as management personnel, our decision making ability is constantly under scrutiny at our workplaces and here we ourselves are not only more aware of our decisions but also pay more attention to making them.

As per one of the study, a sound decision making ability is given weightage by prospective employers especially at middle and top management level.But how does this process of decision making takes place ? What is so difficult about it that most managers are downright fearful of the consequences of a wrong decision? Generally, a decision making process involves three steps: A recognition of a need; a decision to change and a will to implement the decision.

Decisions are an inevitable part of human activities. If understood properly, each problem becomes an opportunity. Decision making is a key role for any manager or leader. But many people struggle when it comes to taking decisions. And this is not due to their inability but simply a fear of taking the wrong decision which makes them fearful. The fear of failure, procrastination and lack of clear understanding of the issue are the main reasons why decisions go wrong. And these are things which managers should totally avoid.

Management experts have come out witha structured approach to decision making which involves certain simple steps to take a complex decision. The first is to Define the problem as clearly as possible. It is absolutely vital to have a clear idea of the problem you are trying to reach a decision on. Many experts suggest writing down the problem on a sheet of paper and revising it again and again till it can be written down in one single sentence. Then the decision taker should assess all the possible outcomes. It is importanat to take a look at all possible outcomes of that decision. The third step is to explore various alternatives and finally Choose the best alternative. Of course, any decision taking will be incomplete without proper implementation. So, once you have decided on the option, go ahead and implement it.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Maintain a Positive Attitude at work.

Most of us spend half our time at our workplaces criticizing our bosses, superiors or colleagues and blame them for our bad performances. We blame our circumstances, our personal problems, bad work culture, unfriendly timings and policies followed by our organizations but seldom have I seen anyone taking responsibility of their own behavior.

Achieving success in your career isn’t just about brains, talents and connection. Its more to do with the right attitude towards work. And I call ot a POSITIVE ATTITUDE and a POSITIVE BELIEF. And this is what Charismatic and successful Leaders have in abundance. They make things happen and move with the sheer force of positivity.

Everyone likes a person with a positive attitude. No one wants to listen to a whiner. Bosses do not want people who always bring problems. Come to think of it, none of us wants to work with a person who is always angry, grumpy or simply negative. But even then we all fall into the trap of negativity quite frequently especially with issues related to our workplace.

A positive attitude brings optimism into your life, and makes it easier to avoid worry and negative thinking. If you adopt it as a way of life, it will bring constructive changes into your life, and will make you happier, brighter and more successful. Always expect the best to happen and it will happen. It is certainly a state of mind that is well worth developing and strengthening.

Follow these simple tips to Get better success at workplace:

1. Take Responsibility: Easy to say but very difficult to do. None of us wants to take up responsibility at the workplace. But without it, you cannot hope to move forward. The moment something goes wrong, we attribute it to everything else except ourselves.

2. Nothing Is Impossible: Believe in yourself. It is easy to pass on the blame to management or the organization, but have you actually tried getting things done. Do it first without any presumptions, Most of the time you will find people responding. But our problem is, that we believe what others tell us – It cannot be done. As they say “It is better to try and fail, than not try at all”.

3. Learn from your failures: Turn your failures into stepping stones to success. It can happen. Things can go out of control, but that is not the end of road. You can always try again. Past is history – and we must learn from history and move forward. It is okay to make mistakes but it is definitely not ok to repeat them again. Therefore, learn your lessons quickly.

4. Be sincere towards your work: You cannot hope to rise further unless you can show enthusiasm and zeal towards your work. It may happen that you feel unmotivated for some time, but if the conditions persist, it is better to look for another career or job rather than stick to current one which leaves you dissatisfied.