Sometimes the grass seems greener on the other side of the fence. However, you won't know for sure until you actually get to the other side. At times, you won't be able to jump back over the fence if you made the wrong decision.

If you had made the right decision-you wouldn't be in tick-infested, thistle-laden grass right now. Ugh!

Master the art and science of being decisive by implementing three experts' advice who provide insight and tools you can employ when making a decision. They include Jessica Cooper, marketing manager, PrintingForLess.com, Livingston, MO; Maryann Karinch, CEO, Karinch Communications, Estes Park, CO; and Matthew Modleski, vice president, Stovall Grainger Modleski, Carmel, IN.

Turn to Your Instincts

Use small steps to make hard decisions.

Modleski: The first step is to clearly define the objective to be achieved. The objective must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound (SMART).

Cooper: To start, create a list of all of the negative and positive aspects involved with each potential response. Then, review which response would provide the best results for the goals, people and issues involved. Oftentimes, the right choice will stand out when you see all the possibilities written on paper.

If the choice is not apparent after writing down your list of pros and cons, wait 24 hours and sleep on it. By giving yourself time away from the issue, you can return to it with a relaxed mind and fresh eyes.

If these small steps do not help clarify your decision, turn to your instincts. If a little voice inside is pushing you in one ­direction, you may want to listen and take action on your gut feeling.

Fill in Your Blind Spots

Build a network of counselors and oracles to bounce off and test solutions.

Cooper: Attend local business events, join industry associations and connect with professionals using various networking tools, online business forums and tele-seminars. Conduct research in advance and reach out to experts in various fields who can help your business now and in the future. If you have a network of counselors and oracles ready to go, you'll be able to test ideas and find solutions faster and more cost effectively.

Modleski: Know your strengths and weaknesses and then seek the counsel of people who see things differently than you do. Choose to build deep relationships with a team of diverse people. Their strengths should complement your strengths so your blind spots are filled in.

Karinch: You can do this internally with individuals who are in the same industry and externally with people who face the same kinds of problems you do, but in other industries. Identify people who have proven they have integrity, passion for what they do, humility, good judgment, follow through and the ability to focus.

Reorient Your Future

Take the future into account when reaching decisions.

Cooper: If you have a business plan and an updated strategy for moving forward, it will be much easier to make decisions affecting your company's future growth and success. When communications are open and a focused action plan is in place, all team members know what they are trying to accomplish. Then, when a decision needs to be made, various outcomes can be matched with the strategies for future company goals. The choices not falling into the overall plan can be quickly discarded.

Modleski: Read various materials so you can think in terms of how all the elements of the future may come together to affect your business and, more importantly, your customers. For example, in healthcare, one must consider advances in areas such as clinical technology, information technology, financial realities, staffing and patient demographics to think clearly about the future. To position your business for future success, think about all the changes and challenges these inputs have on your customers. Then, reorient your solutions to your customers' future.

Karinch: Look at the big picture. If your goal is to make your laboratory the most respected one in the state by next year, then don't begin decision making by looking at how many tests you need to perform so your volume allows you to buy a new instrument. Start by looking at what makes a laboratory superior.

Next, back plan. What do you want your operation to look like a year from now? To get it there, what steps must be taken? Work backward and then review the list going forward to see if you need to change the timeline.

Create Solutions

Build a team for reaching good and timely decisions.

Cooper: Find individuals who are experts in their particular areas, work well with others and do not have problems expressing their opinions. After conducting intensive job interviews and watching people in their daily activities, you'll have a better understanding of each person's personality, talents and work ethic. Use this information to develop teams that will work well together to solve problems and create solutions.

Modleski: Build a team of diverse strengths and create interdependence within the team. Practice decision making on hypothetical but real marketplace possibilities when you have your team together to enhance decision cycle speed. This exercise will build implicit guidance and control into your team so when you and your team are faced with similar decisions, you have already seen how one another thinks and you can make decisions quickly, efficiently and effectively.

Karinch: Choose team members based on their good judgment and ability to follow through and cooperate. It doesn't matter how smart or accomplished an individual is; a top performer is only good on a team if that person can share a passion for accomplishing a common mission. A top performer who is not a team player can disrupt the team dynamic. Do not allow anyone on your team whose default response to something going wrong is to blame someone or something else.

Ask Pertinent Questions

Ask the right questions to reach the right decisions.

Cooper: In addition to asking the pros and cons of each side of an issue to make a good decision, it's essential to consider the people and activities affected by the decision. By turning to an established business plan, marketing strategy and other action plans, you'll be able to ask questions pertinent to set organizational goals.

Modleski: Identify the competitor or problem which must be beaten to achieve an objective. Next, determine your organization's, product's or services' unique strengths you will rely upon to achieve your objective. That attribute is your strategy. Then, determine tactics supporting your strategy and finally marry up the resources to accomplish the most important tactics first. This process will force a decision maker to evaluate both the strategy and tactics in terms of the results-based SMART objective.

Support Team Values

Frame the decision for the collective good rather than personal profit.

Cooper: When making a decision, it's essential to review all the financial, lifestyle, career and other pertinent issues affecting employees, customers, investors and sponsors. Consider including various members from each group to get their input and make a team-oriented decision.

Modleski: Always frame the decision using the words "we, us and our" and frame it in relation to the clearly stated objective. That is the team mission and the team must value the accomplishment of that mission more than individual goals. This is a part of team values that must exist in any high performance team.

Karinch: Ask questions that are open ended and focus on priorities. Keep steering the conversation to those priorities rather than allowing a stream-of-consciousness mentality to take over. Ask questions respecting the expertise of the person being asked the question. As a final note, once all the questions have been asked and answered, do a recap so everyone can see how their contributions affected the discussion and will potentially affect the outcome.

Determine Expected Results

Avoid small glitches that, taken together, can help spell the difference between ­victory and defeat.

Cooper: Take the time to conduct the appropriate research, get input from experts and appropriate team members and look at all the positives and negatives. Without making this extra effort and moving forward with a rash decision, many glitches can be overlooked and lead to catastrophic problems in the long run.

Modleski: There is no way to be decisive and never make mistakes. The two are mutually exclusive. So, the question becomes, "How do I catch my errors (and teach my team to do the same) early enough to make changes and adjustments without compromising reaching the objective?" The answer is to determine expected results for the tactics you execute and have a plan with projected milestones measurable over time. The discussion with your team should always be in terms of the objective; and if the things you're doing aren't keeping your plan on the trajectory reaching your objective, ask yourself (and your customers) these questions, in this order:

• "Is our uniqueness compelling?"

• "Is our tactical execution where we need it to be?"

• "Do we have the right tactics?"

Karinch: Resilience is a matter of knowing how to roll with the fall so you minimize the chances of getting hurt. Contingency thinking involves being ready with a plan when something goes a little off course. Careful planning and the team's good judgment and follow-through will minimize the possibility of errors, but almost nothing will help you completely avoid them, so be prepared to deal with them. The difference between victory and defeat is not having errors; it's how you deal with them.

Get Out the Weed Killer

If you end up on the wrong patch of grass, get out the weed killer and insect repellant. In other words, start taking action to deal with the situation and begin to move in the right direction. Learn from the experience and move forward.

Karen Appold (KarenAppold@comcast.net) is an editorial consultant in Royersford, PA. Visit www.writenowservices.com for more information.

Recommended Reading

• Karinch M. How to Become an Expert on Anything in 2 Hours. New York, NY: Amacom. 2008.

• Karinch M. Business Lessons from the Edge. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. 2009.

• Useem M. The Go Point: When It's Time to Decide. New York, NY: Crown Business. 2006.