Associating Well With Others

Effective Decision-Making Behaviors

Every moment we are awake, we are constantly faced with moments when we need to make decisions. A lot of what we are is as a result of the decisions and choices we make every minute. To make any decision process work, individuals or group members need to behave themselves in certain specific ways. These behaviours can be shared with the group or generated as norms in advance of any decision-making session but best of all will be really valuable if they are infused is us and act as the guiding principles in our daily lives. More significantly, a careful understanding of these behaviours will improve our relationship with other people around us.

Behaviours That Help	Behaviours That Hinder
Listening to other ideas politely, even when you don't agree	Interrupting people in mid-statement
Paraphrasing the main points made by another person, especially if you are about to contradict their ideas	Not acknowledging the ideas that others have put on the table
Praising others ideas	Criticising others ideas, as opposed to giving them useful feedback
Building on other's ideas	Pushing your ideas while ignoring other's input
Asking others to critique your ideas, and accepting the feedback	Getting defensive when your ideas are analyzed
Being open to be able to accepting alternative courses of action	Sticking only to your ideas and blocking suggestions for alternatives.
Dealing with facts	Basing arguments on feelings
Staying calm and friendly towards colleagues	Getting overly emotional; showing hostility in the face of any disagreement