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All Talk and No Action? – Turning decisions into commitments

Guest post by: Christiane Pohl

Article Overview: How can you walk your talk? Five key steps on how you take decisions and then act accordingly,keeping in mind that decisions are not effective without action commitments.

All Talk and No Action? – Turning decisions into commitments

All talk, no action? Good ideas, but no results? Or not the results that you are wishing for?A common problem is a lack of clarity and action commitments.

I see a lot of decisions that never turn into results. I know people mean well, but making things happen takes more than just desire. It takes action. The challenge with turning decisions into action, is understanding the work required. If you don’t break your decisions down into effective actions don’t expect results.

“Remember, a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.” — Tony Robbins

How to best tackle these issues? Here are five steps I have identified that can help you in the process.

Turning decisions into effective actions requires thoughtful work assignments and action commitments. Whatever you want to change, influence or achieve you will need to clearly identify

b. the choices available to you

c. recognize what can be done and what cannot

d. and most importantly commit to Action!

Whatever the issue, the key process is the same. To create a constructive environment for successful decision making make sure you start with the following:

1.Starting the Process:

• Establish the objective - Define what you want to achieve.
• Agree on the process - Know how the final decision will be made, including whether it will be an individual or a team-based decision.
• Make sure you're asking the right question – Spend time asking yourself what is the true issue

2.Generate Good Alternatives = Choices

This step is still critical to making an effective decision. The more good options you consider, the more comprehensive your final decision will be.

• When you generate alternatives, you force yourself to dig deeper, and look at the problem from different angles.
• If you use the mindset ‘there must be other solutions out there,' you're more likely to make the best decision possible.
• If you don't have reasonable alternatives, then there's really not much of a decision to make!

3.Generating Ideas = what can be done and what cannot

Brainstorming is probably the most popular method of generating ideas. Ask colleagues, friends or partners to participate and provide input. Keep an open mind and explore all the possible choices and consequences. It helps to write everything down.

4.Choosing the Best Alternative

After you have evaluated the alternatives, the next step is to choose between them. The choice may be obvious. However, if it isn't, then identifying the root of the problem will help you. This strategy involves looking at any problem and asking: "What is the cause this problem?" and “Am I part of the cause or the solution?”

5.Turn decisions into action commitments.

Actions speak louder than words.Knowing what to do is not the same as doing what you know.

• What action has to be taken and who has to take it?
  
  
• What does the action have to be so that the people who have to do it can do it? That also includes YOU.
• Get the right people for the actions required. The key is to have the right people doing the right things to get the right results.
• Support the action people.Know what actions need to be taken to be successful and support them

Keep in mind that Decisions are Not Effective Without Action Commitments. If you can’t act on your decisions, then it’s a waste of time.What looks good on paper or sounds good, may not work when you actually test it. If you see it doesn’t work look again. Sometime you may find that you have to change your own perceptions before you can move on.

That’s it. And if you feel that you need a few coaching session to get the hang of the process then don't hesitate to contact me.

With my best wishes for your success,

Christiane

Christiane Pohl

Life & Leadership Coach

Athens, Greece

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Article Tags: Actions, Commitments, Decision making, generating results, Leadership, Success



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