Regardless of the size of your company, decision-making is something that is part of your daily life — whether smaller or complex — and that influences your firm’s results.
But how do you make the right decision regarding the various activities of your company? If this is your question, then read this post.
Here, we will discuss the existing types, the profiles of decision-makers and some tools that will undoubtedly help you in this process, making it more assertive. Good reading!
What Are The Types Of Decisions?
Currently, we can identify five types of decisions that a company must make in its daily life, namely:
- Programmed: these are your company’s routine decisions that have a defined methodology that anyone can follow;
- Unscheduled: here are all everyday decisions that need to fit the previous definition.
- Strategic: are all decisions that directly impact the firm’s long-term strategy and objectives;
- Tactics: are those that aim to achieve medium-term objectives and that direct long-term results;
- Operational: also called administrative, they aim at short-term results but are directly linked to the company’s long-term effects.
All of a company’s decisions can be framed within one of these definitions; therefore, identifying which group it belongs to is essential to determine what the expected results will be.
Now that you know the types of decisions, let’s understand more about the profiles of decision-makers and how each one fits into the existing varieties.
What Are The Types Of Decision-Makers?
In an article, the consultancy Hogan Assessments listed the eight most common profiles of decision-makers in companies. Let’s get to know them.
Auditor
He is the type of decision-maker who relies on numerical data to make decisions. This is an excellent solver for pragmatic and short-term situations. However, there are more suitable options for long-term problems.
Surgeon
This type of professional is excellent at making quick and easily implemented decisions, especially when an urgent and agile response is needed.
However, as it is not based on concrete data and analysis, it has little success in long-term decisions.
Casino Player
Able to make decisions quickly and intuitively, he is generally driven by impulse, even when there is not enough information. This profile seeks immediate results.
Just like the first two, it is not the ideal profile for long-term decisions, as it is only based on your intuition.
Exchange Operator
This profile indicates professionals who base their decisions on calculated and careful resolutions, seeking concrete and immediate results. However, they take only a few risks and avoid those that they cannot quantify, including long-term ones.
Investor
This profile also relies on data to make the best decisions, acting slower than other profiles. He only thinks twice before giving up immediate results over long-term ones, which makes him inefficient in urgent ones.
Tax Professional
Using concrete data to defend against possible specific threats is the profile of this decision-maker. He is excellent at making long-term decisions, but when it is necessary to choose a quick or more creative alternative, he is not very successful.
Politician
Professionals who have this profile are capable of making quick decisions, always with a global view of the situation, aiming for competitive advantages in the long term. Despite making quick choices, a situation that demands immediacy is your weak point.
Its main characteristic is to opt for quality in decisions to the detriment of pragmatism. Try to identify with one of these profiles and discover how you do it in your company. Much more than just a profile, they are factors that will influence the decision-making process for your venture and the results obtained from it.
What Tools Can I Use?
Although some profiles rely on something other than data to make a decision, this is not ideal. Knowing your company, the market and the shape of your customers in depth is essential for any decision-maker seeking success.
But what tools should I use to extract the data I need? Let’s see some below.
Internal Analysis
First of all, you should know what your company is doing at the moment. This is a time-consuming analysis, but doing it regularly will give you consistent and up-to-date information about your firm.
External Analysis
Once you know the reality of your company, you must look at the market and gather all the information relevant to your enterprise. It is in this analysis that you will discover whether the number of competitors has increased and whether the market is growing or shrinking.
Audience Survey
The profile of a company’s audience is constantly evolving, so the firm must be up to date with what this profile is and know in depth what their desires and needs are.
Through audience analysis, it is possible to verify trends and market opportunities that still need to be explored, helping, mainly, in the decision to invest in improvements or changes to your products or services.
SWOT Matrix And Analysis
Now that you’ve gathered the information you need, it’s time to insert it into the SWOT matrix and analyze your company’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as market opportunities and threats.
The result of the SWOT matrix analysis is the basis for a company’s decision-making.
Benchmarking
Despite being a comparative analysis, through benchmarking, it is possible to check what your competitors are doing and what is working and then import these practices to your company, adapting them to your reality.
Also Read: Servers: Characteristics For Each Type Of Company
