The choice of A, B or C is welcome in every situation. Without options, you are often unwillingly forced in one direction.

Your task is to put each possibility you’ll evaluate into perspective. When making decisions for your business, you must consider the context and consequences of each alternative. Every decision is the result of making a choice. You choose between at least two alternatives, left or right, yes or no. One option, for example, may increase your team’s workload. Is that feasible? Are they prepared to add more to their busy day? Another option may make one or more people’s jobs redundant. Can you make that difficult call? Sometimes the options available to us may have unknown consequences, require unexpected sacrifices or confuse your clients.

Making good choices means you are committed to the outcome. Your job is to be confident that the option will benefit the business. For example, save time, increase productivity, or lower costs? Changing for change’s sake only disrupts your business.

Making better choices starts when you know what options are available to you. Determining all available options requires a mix of curiosity, creative thinking, research, and effective communication.

Start with what you know. Write down what you’ve tried before and what makes sense. It certainly isn’t the worst approach, but as we know, memory isn’t always as trustworthy as we think. Hopefully, however, this approach gets the ball rolling. But don’t stop there. Filter that information through the context of today’s business conditions and client expectations. Jumping straight to what’s worked before without considering the current situation could have harmful ramifications.

Experimentation is also worth considering. Try various options and measure the results. Digital marketing has its foundation in what’s called A.B. testing. Developers create two versions of a website page and test their hypotheses. This process cleverly eliminates less effective alternatives and makes subtle changes to improve engagement.

The third approach is research and analysis. Spend time redefining your choice. Write a list of all your options, then eliminate choices that don’t suit you. If your filters are too broad and overlap, the choice will become more complex. Reconsider your original motives, and be more specific.

Next, look at the problem from different angles. To come up with a truly innovative solution, you should look at the problem from your client’s point of view or even from your team’s point of view. At the end of the day, what they think, and how they react matters.

Engage others in your team, advisors and potentially your clients and think creatively. Remove all barriers and let your mind wander. Daydream, doodle, change up your environment and envision a different solution to the problem. Even if you don’t like someone else’s idea, get it down. Later it may spark an opportunity you would have lost. Listen to others. Don’t discount anything. Every idea is a good idea at this stage of the process.

Keep the exploration process open for as long as commercially viable, but don’t let overthinking force you into inactivity. Setting a time limit helps crystallise your thoughts in real time rather than drifting in the hope of finding the answer. Sometimes that is hard, especially when your gut says, “Here’s the answer. Let’s go!”. If you limit yourself to only what you know and like, expect nothing to change.

Every choice symbolises some sacrifice. Choose A, give up B. The selection may be obvious and the decision easy. It may become a question of “What are you prepared to forego?” Or, more importantly, “What are you prepared to risk”?

Let’s say you’ve identified five alternatives. Each could be the right option. It’s time to dig in and analyse the possibilities and risks of the competing options. Almost immediately, you might find that option two will take too long and option four will be too expensive. Now you have three options. But how do you decide?

The reality is that you can’t have it all, no matter how hard you try. Defining your goal is the key to effective choice selection. Doing so will allow you to weigh the pros and cons and eliminate unworthy options.

Making a simple pros and cons list is a great way to start. Remember that these lists can quickly become subjective and highlight issues that aren’t necessarily relevant. Watch out for potential rabbit holes.

Let’s discuss what you might do with Peter, an underperforming team member.

When the abundance of choice is a dilemma

1908 when Henry Ford successfully marketed the Model T Ford, he said you could have any colour you liked “as long as it was black”. He was looking to sell an affordable, durable, and simple car to operate. It was a brilliant strategy at the time as the demand outstripped supply. Why add choice when the cars sold themselves?

Today’s marketplace is different. An abundance of choices baffles consumers and confuses decision-making in many circumstances. Barry Schultz has identified this phenomenon as ‘The Paradox of Choice’. It dictates that too much choice leads to inactivity.

I remember a big trip with my family from Sydney to the Gold Coast in the early 1970s. Cavill Ave was flush with Ice Cream stores feverously trying to outdo each other. My eyes lit up from 30 metres away when I saw the flashing sign enticing me to try 57 flavours. My excitement was uncontrollable. “Quick, Mum, let’s go!”

Confusion skyrocketed as I entered the doorway; the 57 choices became an illusion. Despite all the options, I could only choose one. As I moved up and down the range of flavours, frustration grew. I struggled to decide. I watched other people avoid deciding and walk out without ice cream. Sheer madness!

When we find the choice is unclear, we elect the more familiar option. Over half of us will likely choose vanilla or chocolate despite the 55 other flavours. An abundance of choices fails both the buyer and the seller.

We assume that the more options we have, the greater our chances of finding the choice that will perfectly satisfy our needs. In reality, that’s untrue: you are more likely to decide when faced with fewer options.

Too many choices can easily distract you from your needs and confuse you. Add time pressure, and making a decision becomes overwhelming. The easiest option is deferring our decision, but as we know, inactivity is the antithesis of decision-making.