(Source: Tecker International LLC)

Earlier this month, I blogged about four basic questions that we should ask ourselves in the context of making a decision.

The next step in the process is to weigh the various alternatives against one another (pros and cons). List the advantages and disadvantages of each option. Be sure to include labor (staffing) resource demands as well as hard costs to implement, potential cost savings, and revenue growth if the option succeeds. Note the alternatives do not necessarily need to be exclusive of one another.

According to Tecker International, a consulting company that works with associations, the following factors should be considered in the overall context of decision-making:

• Impact: How critical is this decision to your overall operations? What other activities or factors are contingent upon your making this decision?
  
• Consequence: How important is it? What is the upside (or downside) to your organization should the desired condition be achieved? If you are able to take advantage of the opportunity? If the problem is sufficiently addressed?
  
• Immediacy: How much time is available in which to make the decision? How quickly should the problem at hand be addressed before it might cause irreversible damage or before the opportunity might disappear?
  

The following criteria should also be integrated into your thinking process to establish priorities among those strategies you decide to select:

• Critical: Work on this strategy must be completed in the coming year.
  
• Immediate: Work on this strategy must occur in the coming year.
  
• Middle: Work on this strategy should occur in the coming year if possible.
  
• Later: Work on this strategy can wait until a subsequent year if necessary.
  

The final blog in this series will present a sample Action Plan that will help you organize your decision-making thinking.

Thanks for reading.