LSBE - Organization and Decision Making Skills Lesson
Organization and Decision Making Skills
Introduction
Decision-making and organization are key skills in the workplace, especially if you want to be an effective and efficient leader who inspires others and achieves success. Whether you're deciding which person to hire, which supplier to use, or which strategy to pursue, the ability to make a good decision with available information is vital. Being organized means you are not as likely to miss an important detail or deadline, thus setting a good example to your team members.
Organizational Skills
Organizational skills are an ability to remain focused on different tasks and use resources effectively and efficiently to achieve the desired outcome. Have you ever missed an important assignment because you were disorganized and forgot to create a reminder, misplaced instructions, procrastinated to the last moment? Lack of organizational skills can be disastrous to a company or organization as it directly impacts workplace productivity and efficiency and, thus, daily business operations. Five signs of poor organizational skills are lack of planning, procrastination, clutter, miscommunication, and inefficiency.
Employees with strong organizational skills are able to structure their schedules to meet all obligations, boost productivity, and prioritize tasks, thus staying organized in the workplace can save time, money, and reputation. While you should begin with keeping your workspace free of clutter, being organized goes way beyond that. You should strive to be prepared with utilizing systematic planning and scheduling. For example, it helps to break down large projects into smaller parts and set deadlines for those parts, so you don’t find yourself breaking into a cold sweat when the project deadline suddenly looms before you.
As a leader, you should keep an eye on the big picture while also maintaining a focus on details. Without a sound plan, a goal is only a wish that will probably never happen. For any project, planning means anticipating what resources are needed, estimating how long the project will take, assembling necessary resources and setting deadlines, and getting it done!
Decision-Making Skills
Decision-making skills make a difference between business success and failure. It would be easy if there was a template you could use in any situation but, of course, there is no such thing. Each situation presents its own challenges and requires its own decision. Leaders make numerous decisions on a daily basis, some small and routine, affecting only a portion of business operations, and some huge, with long-reaching consequences.
As a leader, how do you avoid making bad decisions? Successful leaders use a systematic approach to decision-making. There are six essential steps in the decision-making process:
Download the Decision Making Skills Quiz from Resources under the book icon. For each statement, select the option that best describes you. When you are finished, total the points using the scale on the "KEY" page that is also located under the book icon.
As you answered these questions, did you spot the essential steps in the decision-making process, learned in this lesson?
Establishing a positive decision-making environment (questions 3, 7, 13, 16).
Generating potential solutions (questions 4, 8, 11).
Evaluating alternative solutions (questions 1, 6, 15).
Deciding (questions 5, 10, 17)
Checking the decision (questions 2, 9)
Communicating and implementing (questions 12, 14, 18).
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