10 Decision-Making Errors that Hold Us Back at Work

“Here’s a right-angled triangle. If one side has a length of 5, and the other 12, what is the length of the third side?”

This is the kind of math question you’ll usually find at the end of the textbook chapter on Pythagoras’s theorem. You’re well equipped to solve it — after all, you just finished learning the requisite skills, and there is only one correct answer.

Contrast this with the kinds of problems we solve in the workplace. Early in our careers, we’re faced with relatively straightforward requests: “I need a summary of these three reports.” “Fill in the spreadsheet with the newest data from the trade press.” “Need to turn this into a fancy PowerPoint.” These requests are concrete and predictable, and we tend to handle them well.

But as we progress in our careers and start dealing with more serious matters, problems appear in increasingly complex, ambiguous forms. There can be messy situations with unclear causes, where the problem is not clearly defined for us. 

Think along these lines: “Our employees are resisting our organization’s digital transformation efforts.” “Our new product isn't selling.” “There are too many safety violations in our factory.” 

We’re also tasked with hitting goals that we have no idea how to reach. “We want to become the market leader in X.” “We want to increase our revenue to XX million.”

Managing situations like these can be taxing and may feel beyond our ability. It’s only natural, considering that most of us have not had the opportunity to learn decision-making and problem-solving tools through formal education.