5 Ways to Improve Your Decision-Making

Quit a job, or stick around. Invest more in a project, or cut losses. Promote someone from within, or hire someone new. Lay people off, or cut costs elsewhere.

Regardless of where you are in your career, you’re regularly making decisions big and small. But humans, collectively, aren’t always so great at this. Nearly all of us are susceptible to thinking rashly, letting biases get in the way, and being overconfident. At one point, as many as 80% of people who quit during the Great Resignation era reported that they wished they hadn’t. Big bosses aren’t immune, either. “CEOs tend to overestimate themselves,” says Stu Crandell, global leader for Korn Ferry’s CEO and Executive Assessment practice. Indeed, in a 2023 study, 40% of executives said they wished they had been more thoughtful and truer to themselves when shaping their careers. And a whopping 80% of bosses have said they regret their initial return-to-office decisions.

Here are some tips from Korn Ferry’s experts that will help almost anyone improve their decision-making.

Rely on purpose and values.

Purpose is a cause, passion, or interest that guides our actions. Letting purpose be a critical component of decision-making will help you feel comfortable and engaged once you’ve made a choice, says Val Olson, a career and leadership coach for Korn Ferry Advance. Even if you’re not quite sure on the purpose front, you probably have a handful of values you rank as most important. (Sit down and figure out their order of importance, if you haven’t already.) Use those values to guide you toward choices that will not only help you fulfill your personal ambitions, but also steer you through potentially difficult scenarios.

If you’re in a leadership position, make the organization’s values and purpose your guiding star. Decisions that aren’t clearly tied to the organization’s purpose can be difficult to defend. “They appear superficial, reactive, and inauthentic,” says Kevin Cashman, Korn Ferry’s vice chairman of CEO and Enterprise Leadership.

Have the right information.

“Do you have enough information to make an informed decision?” asks Deb Nunes, a Korn Ferry senior client partner and executive coach. Too often, people believe they have expertise in an area when they really don’t. That overconfidence can lead to bad decisions. In fact, it’s OK to say, “I don’t know.” Before making a big choice, seek out experts who know the subject, organization, and issue you’re dealing with. It’s likely that you won’t have all the information (especially these days, when everything seems so volatile), but getting more information will improve your chances of making a smart choice.

Ask “And then what?”

You make a decision and move on, right? Wrong, leadership experts say. Before making the decision, analyze both its short- and long-term implications. Most executives are very good at the former, less so the latter. In one 2023 study, 93% of business leaders said they made decisions with cost cutting in mind—decisions that 38% of them later regretted, because of their negative impact on engagement, efficiency and productivity.

This lack of foresight can even involve decisions around their own careers. Nunes relates a story of a high-powered No. 2 executive who was being groomed for the CEO spot. But the executive, who was very successful and happy in her role, decided she didn’t want the top job. She assumed the company would be fine with this; in fact, the firm saw succession as a critical part of her role. She was forced out within a year. “She didn’t understand what the implications were of her decision,” Nunes says.

If you don’t have to decide right now, then don’t.

Because today’s environment is filled with so much disruption, you might think you have to make a decision immediately. But sometimes the best decision is to hold off. It’s not procrastination, Nunes says; rather, it’s giving yourself more time to deliberate. Unless investors are breathing down your back or you’re facing a job-offer deadline, take your time. 

Pause before you decide.

Even if you do need to decide quickly, it’s critical to take a pause first, Cashman says. Taking a pause is an intentional process of stepping back to reflect and deliberate. Slowing down provides a chance to think more strategically and tune out distractions. Ironically, this slower thinking can make for better decisions in a fast-paced environment. “The more complex the decision, the slower we need to go,” Cashman says.

Learn more about Korn Ferry’s career development capabilities from Korn Ferry Advance. 

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