Have you ever suffered from decision fatigue? Making too many decisions throughout your work day might leave you feeling mentally drained and emotionally exhausted. This, in turn, could lead to a lack of productivity and creativity, which will ultimately hurt your team’s morale.
To help you combat these issues, a panel of Forbes Coaches Council members shared their advice on how a leader can cut back on the number of daily decisions they make to reduce stress, boost their energy and ultimately become a better leader.
1. Have Your Subject Matter Experts On Call
A successful leader rarely makes wise decisions on her own. Take steps to prevent decision fatigue by having a small group of subject matter experts at the ready. Make a list of the critical, difficult decisions that you face and, next to each, assign someone who is knowledgeable about that topic. Form an agreement with each expert that you can reciprocally tap into each other when necessary. – Loren Margolis, Training & Leadership Success LLC
2. Repeat All Your Daily Non-Critical Actions
Eliminate the number of decisions you make every day be simply choosing to “repeat” certain non-critical actions daily. For example, choose to wake up at the same optimal time every day, pick one or two restaurants as your go-to lunch meeting places, simplify your wardrobe and eliminate options. Repeating non-critical actions removes many micro-decisions from your plate and simplifies your day. – Shefali Raina, Alpha Lane Partners
3. Create A Decision-Making Matrix
It’s amazing how many meetings for deciding something rehash the arguments first. In a political campaign, candidates do not “recap” their qualities at the polling booth. Try a decision making “matrix” that clarifies who can make what decisions without input, with required input and at what spending level. Do you need consensus? Majority? Can the team lead decide individually? Clear this up and thrive. – John Hittler, Evoking Genius
4. Establish Systems And Processes
Create systems and processes to get and remain organized. Make certain tasks turnkey for your team. Then, you’ll be able to more easily recognize when a modification will lead to a better result. This approach frees up mental energy to focus on items that truly require more attention. Ultimately, having systems and processes in place can allow you to make decisions more quickly and easily. – Rosie Guagliardo, InnerBrilliance Coaching
5. Make A ‘Today’ And ‘Tomorrow’ List
Make two priority lists. One list is marked “Today” and one “Tomorrow.” If you get through today’s list, then move to the other. When unexpected “fires” show up, decide which list it goes under. It sounds simple but if you only make one list, it can be overwhelming. At the end of the day, dump all thoughts on tomorrow’s list. The next morning, break it up again into two lists. – Rosa Vargas, Authentic Resume Branding & Career Coaching
6. Batch Your Decision Making
In the digital age, as soon as we receive an email we feel that we need to respond to it immediately. Yet every time we interrupt our flow of work to respond, we decrease our productivity. I recommend making decisions in batches by setting aside time where you dedicate yourself to this task solely and prioritize what is urgent. When we immerse ourselves in one thing, we are more efficient. – Carolina Caro, Carolina Caro
7. Go With Your Gut
I was a late starter and went to university at age 47. Making a decision was tough. One professor told me to go with my gut: “Don’t overthink it; the first answer is usually right.” My research since then has taken me to a definition of intuition as spiritual insight. It’s something we are innately qualified to feel. Don’t overthink the decision. – Frances McIntosh, Intentional Coaching LLC
8. Delegate To Rejuvenate Your Capabilities
Decision fatigue decreases the effectiveness of decision making over time. The threshold for decision fatigue can result in irrational judgment calls or indecision. Clients seeking relief from decision fatigue are advised to structure their lives and days to conserve mental and physical energy. Delegation of authority decreases decision fatigue and increases productivity, creativity and morale. – Lillian Gregory, The Institute for Human and Leadership Excellence
9. Follow The 5-5-5 Method
Chunk it down in three easy steps. Is this a five-year decision, a five-day decision or a five-minute decision? Devote your energy to the five-year decisions, contemplate and attend to the five-day decisions and delegate or automate the five-minute decisions so that you have the time to devote to matters of long-lasting strategic significance and importance to your organization. – Debbie Ince, Executive Talent Finders, Inc
10. Schedule Your Decision Time
You can go mad making critical decisions all day long. In the “now” society it seems we have to immediately answer our texts, emails, phone and in-person requests. We are in an immediate gratification mindset at work. Process. Let people know that and schedule times you will be rendering decisions on things: “Between 10 a.m. and noon, I will let you know about X decisions.” – John M. O’Connor, Career Pro Inc.
11. Eliminate Or Simplify
A colleague taught me to simplify life by eliminating the need to make decisions. She had ordered binders in a special color for a big meeting. They arrived in the wrong color, which caused errands. Lesson learned. If a decision can be skipped, skip it. For the next seven days, identify five decisions to eliminate or simplify, such as wardrobe, menus, agendas and schedules (say no to extra meetings). – Kelly Tyler Byrnes, Voyage Consulting Group
12. Develop Your Team’s Critical Thinking
It is a great idea to delegate decision making to others on your team. However, you must teach them business critical thinking so that they are prepared to make more decisions and understand the implications of those decisions. This is done by asking questions to surface their thinking, including them in the decision-making process and delegating decision making with a review of thinking. – Mark Samuel, IMPAQ Corporation
13. Let Your Values Drive Your Decisions
Know your “why.” Assemble the “why”-based values to define what is important to you in life and work. Identify your priorities, create the framework of your behavior and, thereby, drive the direction of your life through focused decisions and define the structure of your best practices. Align your words and actions with your values. Then, your values act as the measure of your success in life. – Divya Parekh, DP Group
14. Stand By Your Decisions And Your People
If your team sees you continually second guess what they do, they’ll stop making decisions that they’re capable of making. You can radically cut the number of decisions that come across your desk (or phone) by hiring smart people and letting them do their jobs. Give people authority and resources to make as many decisions as they can without negatively impacting the business, and cheer them on. – Christine Rose, Christine Rose Coaching & Consulting
As Seen On Forbes Coaches Council –
Debbie Kassebaum-Ince
Founder & President of Executive Talent Finders
