There’s no question that effective decision-making is a requirement for success. But navigating the intricate web of choices requires a keen understanding of the whys that serve as their foundation. And these whys are based on values.
In a recent livestream, Zoetica Media founder Kami Huyse talked about how you can align decisions with your core values, and in the process conduct a nuanced risk-benefit analysis that resonates with your desired results. Based upon the book Value-Focused Thinking: A Path to Creative Decisionmaking by Ralph L. Keeney, it’s the very approach she’s used for over a decade in both her professional and personal life.
The approach is comprised of 4 elements:
1. Define the decision
2. Identify your values
3. Create alternatives
4. Get buy-in
Clarify the Type of Decision You’re Facing
There are two types of decisions, a problem decision and an opportunity decision. Kami explains that “a problem decision is when something happens to you…and then the opportunity decision is when you look around you and you make changes or decisions to make a better state.”
She adds that while neither is inherently better, people tend to gravitate towards making decisions when they’re forced to do so. “Many people often avoid making decisions unless they're presented with them. So often we're reactive when we're making decisions. I always say, especially with crisis communication, respond, don't react, because when you react to something you [may] go with maybe not the optimal decision, you may go with the first thing that comes to your mind.”
Identify Your Values
Identifying your values is key to deciding the best way to move forward. Keep in mind that although most people believe they know what their values are, naming them can be a challenge. That’s why Kami suggests using the UC Davis Values-based Decision Making spreadsheet as a guide.
Illustrating an example from her own life, Kami talked about needing to decide whether she wanted to find a new job after moving halfway across the country as a newlywed, or whether she was going to go the entrepreneurial route and start her own business.
“In that case I thought about my values. I was newly married, I was 32 years old… and I knew we wanted to have children,” she says. ”So my values for starting the business where I knew I needed to have flexibility in my schedule…. I wanted to be with my kids, I wanted to make sure that I could take them to school, pick them up, do all those things, and so I thought that working from home would be great.”
She had another important value that impacted her decision-making. “My second value was that I wanted to make sure that I had some meaningful work. I wanted meaningful work that I like to do.”
Being clear about your values doesn’t mean the outcome is guaranteed, she acknowledges. “By the way, some of that didn't turn out exactly like I thought because when you start a business you don't always get exactly the kind of work you want, so I had to work through that too,” she adds. But our values can reflect the direction that’s most beneficial for us, she believes.
Create Viable Alternatives
After identifying your values and knowing what problem or opportunity is in front of you, the next step is to create alternatives.
“We tend to go with ‘just good enough,’ like ‘okay, that's a good enough solution, that sounds good’ and then you just go after that solution. But the truth is that you might have much better luck with things if you sit down and you create alternatives,” Kami says.
“When you create more alternatives…you may find that you'll have much better options in there and you can get rid of the ones that don't seem like they're going to be working and go with the ones that are more optimal for your decision.” Additionally, “always ask yourself, to what end am I making this decision?”
Get Buy-In
Finally, getting buy-in from those you’re interacting and working with is foundational for “people to trust you and bring you in as somebody that they're going to use for their marketing or social media or whatever you do in your business,” she notes.
If the decision-making process she outlines is still challenging for some people, she recommends doing what Keeney suggests, namely “start with your personal life because then you can take it into every other part of your life.”
To hear more of Kami insights, watch the full livestream.