Manager Development Training : Making Decisions 

 

Keys to making decisions:  

 

https://www.ted.com/talks/patrick_mcginnis_how_to_make_faster_decisions?language=en 

 

• What stood out to you as you watched this clip?   

• If you were to give someone advice on making decisions to implement into their day-to-day, after seeing this clip, what advice would you give?   

 

Basic decisions are often complicated due to over-analysis, which often only results in no decision being made.  

 

• There are only 3 types of decisions you make:  

• High stakes – Long-term consequences. These are the ones that require YOUR decision. 

• Low stakes – Plenty of acceptable outcomes. Delegate the choice, then support it.  

• No stakes – no right or wrong answer, and you probably won’t ever remember making the decision even in a few hours.  

• Your goal is to clear your plate, not kick the can farther down the road.  

• Don’t be paralyzed by the number of options that you have. View the stakes, then make the decision.  

 

What recent decisions have you struggled with making?  

What made that decision difficult?   

What was your final decision that was made and what outcome did it provide?   

 

Situational Role-play:  

 

1. An employee called you stating they had a personal grinder that they took to work per the client’s request, and it is now missing. You get the description of the grinder and come to find that it is $120. You notify the client, but they say it is nowhere to be found. What do you do?   

2. It’s Thursday morning, you are approaching the end of the week and notice that your team, yourself included, is on track to exceed their hours and are going into OT if they continue working 8 hours today and Friday. How do you proceed?   

 

Moving Forward: 

 

1. What are decisions you currently need to make, but have difficulty coming to a final decision?   

  

2. How are you going to approach these types of decisions moving forward?  

 

 

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions” 

• Stephen Covey 

 

  

Approval and Revision History  

Version	Date	Approved By	Changes Made
1.0	5/22/2025	IT , ML	Initial Creation

  

Contact Information  

For questions or support related to this SOP, contact:  
Role/Department: Operations 
Email: [email protected] 
Extension: 115