Tag Archives: Teams

Simplify What Feels Complicated by Making A Decision Table

Posted on by by Ariana Friedlander

I find that I’m constantly faced with making difficult decisions in my business. Do I pursue this opportunity or that, make this investment or not, where do I spend my time, what activities do I say no to (that’s a hard when everything’s so enticing)? Big, challenging, hard decisions seem to come up with some frequency. Part of the reason they’re so difficult is because of the level of complexity – there are lots of options, competing interests, specific expectations and limited resources. In other words, many things to take into consideration.

Simplify what feels complicated by creating a decision table!  It helps me to process through everything and is especially useful when deciding between many different choices that require a significant investment of time and/or resources (which are inherently limited in nature, decide wisely!). Just to show you how useful they are, when my husband and I were deciding to move out to Fort Collins almost 6 years ago, yup, I made a decision table! And we love it here :)

I also use a Decision Table when choosing which Business Development activities I want to pursue.  Here’s an example:

Decision Table

Sample Business Development Decision Table

Anyway, the process of making a decision table is valuable as it helps you to gain clarity around your priorities and expectations. It is also a very useful tool, developing and sharing decision making tables systematizes your business (that’s why it is important to be organized and remember where you develop and save these kinds of documents).  To start, make a list of your objectives – these are the factors that have the utmost importance in your decision.

Consider for a moment that you’re deciding what business development activities to invest in. Both cost and time are invariably objectives in need of considering (these are inputs). Other objectives may include the opportunity to network and build relationships, creating brand awareness, linkbacks to your own website, etc. (these are outcomes). An objective I consider very important is Professional Development as I like business activities that offer added value and personal growth (that’s not an obvious objective though).

You might want to write a brief description about what each objective means; you’ll likely find the meanings to change over time as you become more certain of what you’re priorities are.  Brainstorm all the different options you have to choose among.  List your options in the first column of an excel spreadsheet and put the objectives as headers to the rows.

Once you’ve identified your objectives and options it is time to begin filling in your decision table.  Rank some objectives based on how well each option meets your objectives on a scale of 1-3 as appropriate.  For inherently quantitative objectives like time and money put in specific details, how much does it cost and how much time is required.  And have a space for comments or notes where you can write down any particular anecdote that’s of interest.

As you begin to see the decision table filled in you might develop more awareness of your priorities. For example, an option might rank high in one objective but utterly lack in another, more imperative, objective. That’s why it is important to look at the parts as well as the sum of the whole.  If you make your choice based on the option receives the highest score (adding all the objectives together), then consider assigning a weight to your objectives that way your priorities are being taken into account.

You just have to play around with decision tables and modify to improve them for your situation and your needs over time. The goal of this process is to help you to simplify what feels complicated so that you make make the decision that’s best for you, one that is objective yet relative to your situation! Ultimately, there’s usually no obvious right or wrong decision, life’s a little more complicated than that.  Strive to make the smart decision for you and your situation, now that’s a realistic goal!

On Being Non-Judgemental

Posted on by by Ariana Friedlander

Like so many kids, I would spend some weekends at my grandparent’s house every summer while growing up.  One time when I was six or seven years old my parent’s brought my bike out as well.  Having grown up in a house set back in the woods off of a highway, I was all too thrilled to have the opportunity to ride my bike in a normal, suburban neighborhood.

And so, I took advantage of my new setting and decided to try an experiment.  I wanted to see if I could ride my bike in a straight line while keeping my eyes closed!  I set my gaze ahead of me, started pedaling and closed my eyes.  I pumped my legs and rode forward until a curb got in my way and I toppled down onto the sidewalk.

Grandmom

Portrait of Grandmom

Luckily, I was not badly hurt but I did have some scrapes that were bleeding so I went into the house and asked my Grandmom to bandage my wounds.  She immediately started to doctor my wounds and inquired, “What happened Ariana?”

“I wanted to see if I could ride my bike straight with my eyes closed.”  I replied non-challantly.

She added triple antibiotic ointment to my leg and reflected with compassion in her voice, “Well I guess now you know.  Only you’re lucky because it could have been a lot worst!”

In retrospect, I realize how much I appreciate my Grandmother’s non-judgemental ways.  I can easily name a handful of acquaintances or friends that, having been in my Grandmother’s shoes, would have rolled their eyes and questioned my intelligence, how could I be so stupid!  But not my Grandmother, despite being chocked full of common sense, my Grandmom appreciated inquisition and practiced unconditional love.  Much like my experience working with Admirables Nancy Lowry, I had the opportunity to learn from my mistakes without the embarrassment of being judged for my experiment.

I have since learned that actions requiring sight are best done with your eyes open!  But I also learned that experimentation can have its consequences and those should be taken into consideration before embarking on an off-the-wall idea.  And most importantly, I learned that being non-judgemental, compassionate and loving unconditionally empowers others.

If you want to foster innovation and creativity with your team try suspending judgement and give some of those off the wall ideas a chance!

Leading Without Authority

Posted on by by Ariana Friedlander

There are many different definitions and perceptions of what makes someone a leader and what leadership is.  One all-too-common misconception is that a leader must possess a position of authority.  Frequently, people will identify presidents or CEO’s as leaders because of this misconception.  But, authority does not always equal leadership and exercising one’s leadership does not always equal authority.

Anyone can be a leader, regardless of your position or station in life!  Simply put, you’re leading without authority.

Leadership, as defined by Northouse, is “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.”  That is the most simple yet ‘accurate’ definition of leadership I’ve found.

Would you like to learn how to exercise your leadership but feel trapped because you don’t have any authority?

The problem with “Just”

Posted on by by Ariana Friedlander
Are you oversimplifying things in a way that makes your life more complicated?
Anytime you hear yourself say (or think), “I just have to……”  or  “you just have to….” or “they just have to….” (hopefully you get my point by now) STOP!  And ask yourself, what does just mean.  Assuming when using the word just that you are describing a cause and effect reaction.  Ask yourself – What has to be done for the outcome to occur?

Of course, you should keep reading!

Too often we over simplify things by tossing the word just in there.  And sometimes, it is justified (sorry, love puns), “I just have to send that email.”  Which is already written, ready to go in your outbox and all you have to do is hit “send.”  But other times situations are more complicated, “They just have to organize the party.”  Which, in theory the task may be simple but includes many actions: create guest list, invite guests, coordinate food, coordinate decorations, find location, etc. etc.  These actions can all become time consuming, even though they may be fairly straight forward.

So, after you ask yourself what has to be done for the outcome to occur, quickly guestimate an amount of time for those actions.  If it is a couple of minutes, than you are using Just appropriately.  But if it is a couple of hours or days, than Just does not appropriately describe the scenario.  Keep in mind if you have to wait for someone else, (i.e. the printers to print the invitations) it often adds a little more complication and more time.  Suddenly when looking at this or that situation, just may be an oversimplification of everything that has to occur in order to achieve your desired outcome.

Don’t over commit yourself or your team by oversimplifying tasks with the adverb Just!  When we have limited time and resources, something that is just that easy might not be just that simple.

And if I just described someone on your team, encourage them to think through their statement more by asking the same questions as above: What has to happen for the outcome to occur?  And how much time will each action step take?

Just (Adverb): Within a brief preceding time; but a moment before.