Should I quit my job? When should I start looking for another job? Is it time to change careers? Should I go back to school? Should I start my own business?
Decisions n decisions n decisions. At some point in all of our lives, we are faced with career decisions that need to be made.
Did you know that most of us have a decision-making style that influences the way we make decisions? Yes, this is why some people seem to be able to make conscious and systematic decisions, while others find it difficult to make even simple choices.
Writers, J.H. Bowlsbey, J.D. Spivack and R.S. Lisansky outlined in their book, Take Hold of Your Future: A Career Planning Guide, the following eight commonly used decision-making styles. Be honest with yourself and determine the one that best describes your style:
Agonizing: Investing an inordinate amount of time and thought in gathering data and analyzing alternatives. The agonizer gets lost in this process and never advances to the decision point.
Compliant: Going along with the plans of someone else rather than making an independent decision.
Delaying: Postponing thought and action on a problem until later. The decider never even gets to identify the decision to be made.
Fatalistic: Leaving the decisions to environment or fate.
Impulsive: Taking the first alternative available, without looking at other alternatives or collecting information. Those who use this strategy operate from emotion and move very quickly to taking action.
Intuitive: Basing a decision on feelings and emotions that have not been verbalized.
Paralytic: Accepting the responsibility for a decision but then being unable to set the process in motion to make a decision.
Systematic: Following a well thought out process which includes identifying the decision to be made, gathering information, identifying alternatives, weighing evidence, choosing among alternatives, taking action and reviewing the decision and its consequences.
Okay, did you find your primary decision-making style among the ones described above?
The systematic style is an effective decision-making process and usually is more results-oriented than most other approaches. While no style can guarantee your desired outcome, the systematic style can reduce uncertainty and the element of risk in decision making.
Changing the way you make decisions may very well be the first step in make the career changes you have desired for years.
Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the address listed below and I will send you a free copy of a decision-making exercise and a description of the systematic decision-making process.
Wishing you the JOY of JOB Satisfaction!
Contact Alfreda Brown at the Center for Social and Employment Analyses (C-SEA), 3830 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108 or by email at HYPERLINK “mailto:workinginstlouis@aol.com” csea4info@aol.com. For information about the Introduction to 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens training program, call 534-6121 or visit http://www.c-sea.com.
