Improve your analytical skills

• This is the most common route to improving decision making.
  
• You could learn a range of techniques, some quite quantitative, for processing complex data more systematically.
  
• There are abundant courses and books available on this topic.
  
• However, does this way of solving problems fit your style?
  
• Do you prefer an intuitive, improvising and learn-as-you-go approach?
  
• Would immersing yourself in quantitative techniques improve your decisions or just lower your confidence because you feel like a fish out of water?
  
• Would you be further ahead to make use of the analytical skills of others - seeing your role as one of channeling such resources rather than one of doing the analytical work yourself?
• Becoming more analytical is not a managerial solution - the manager places more emphasis on drawing solutions out of other highly analytical people.
  
• What other ways can you improve your decision making?
  
  • By involving others.
    
  • Being aware of your own blind spots.
    
  • Avoiding emotional drivers for making decisions.
    
  • Reality testing - bouncing ideas off of likely critics.
    
  • Benchmarking.