How to Make More Informed Decisions in Your Business

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Fiaccabrino Selection Process (44-slide PowerPoint presentation). The Fiaccabrino Selection Process is a powerful methodology for interviewing and screening the best people for your organization. The objective is to select those people who will be the highest performers with the lowest turnover. (Whereas the methodology was originally developed for a sales [read more]

* * * *

Are you a business owner who worries about making the wrong decisions on behalf of your business? If so, there are many business owners in the same situation who need all the help they can get, before they decide to lead their company and employees in a certain direction. Below are some of the ways you can make more informed decisions that have a greater chance of benefiting your business.

HR Systems

Your HR department should have a system that records all of the employee-related activities that take place in your organisation. Over a long period of time, an HR system like the one developed by XCD HR will accumulate a lot of valuable information. This information can be sliced and diced to produce a wide range of reports that can help you make all kinds of decisions which are based on these historical facts. For instance, you can make decisions that improve your hiring process and much more.

Analytics and Metrics

A wide range of analytics and metrics systems are available to record and analyse other areas of a business too. Once again, these systems are able to record facts about customers, suppliers and other people and organisations who interact with your company. These analytics and metrics systems usually have comprehensive reporting functions which help you make sense of all the information collected by these systems.

Interviews and Questionnaires

Staff members often know what problems exist in an organisation. Even more importantly, many of your workers may also be in a position to provide you with a solution to certain problems. This is why your employees should be included in many of your decision making processes that have an impact on them.

However, not everyone is willing to come forward and offer their opinions. This is where interviews and questionnaires can be effective. These interviews and questionnaires should include precise questions that will allow your staff to give much more useful responses.

Research

Sometimes you have to look outside your own organisation to find solutions to certain problems. Researching your industry and finding out about the latest developments in your chosen field can benefit your business in many ways. You should also look at what other similar companies are doing and what tools and strategies they are using. Your closest competitors may not be inclined to share this information, but there are plenty of online resources that will.

Get Help from Business Professionals

Being a business owner can be a lonely experience, so it’s often wise to look for help. A wide range of business consultants and mentors are available, who can help you become a much better decision maker. If you know other experienced business owners, these seasoned entrepreneurs may also be willing to lend a hand.

When you’re a business owner who makes the decisions for your company, the buck stops with you. This means you have to think carefully every time you are in this situation and need to have all the relevant facts and figures in front of you. The tips above can help you become a much better and more decisive decision maker.

Do You Want to Implement Business Best Practices?

You can download in-depth presentations on Interviewing and 100s of management topics from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.

For even more best practices available on Flevy, have a look at our top 100 lists:

• Top 100 in Strategy & Transformation
• Top 100 in Digital Transformation
• Top 100 in Operational Excellence
• Top 100 in Organization & Change
• Top 100 Management Consulting Frameworks

These best practices are of the same as those leveraged by top-tier management consulting firms, like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture. Improve the growth and efficiency of your organization by utilizing these best practice frameworks, templates, and tools. Most were developed by seasoned executives and consultants with over 20+ years of experience.