Congratulations! You have now made the decision. You can have confidence that you have made a sensible decision based on all the available evidence. You now need to put that decision into practice. Don’t delay – but be careful while you are putting the plan into action.

Acting on the decision may seem to be the easy bit, but often it is not. We will now look at the tricky issue of how to implement your decision. Timing and style of putting the decision into practice can be important. This chapter will also address those who feel paralysed – having made the decision they discover they are unable to act on it.

Explaining your decision

Depending on the context of your decision you may now need to explain your decision to others. Of course, if it is simply a personal matter that’s only important to you, you won’t need to explain and you can skip this section.

You might find it helpful to read my book, How to Argue, which provides lots of advice on how to present an argument, but here are some key points for now.

• Be clear. If you are announcing your decision make it quite clear what you have decided. This is especially important if you are importing bad news. You do not need to be heartless or blunt, but you do need to convey exactly what you mean. Avoid beating about the bush or surrounding what you are saying with obscuration. It will simply annoy your audience, suggest you are insincere or unsure and lead them to question the appropriateness of your decision.
• Think carefully about what arguments the person you are talking to will find most persuasive. It may have been that there was a range of considerations that led to your decision. They may all be good reasons, but which will be the ones that will appeal to the person you are talking to? Pitch the explanation of the decision (or ‘sell’, if you like) to the particular individual or target audience – your explanation of the decision to the finance director is unlikely to be the same as the one to the cleaning staff.
• How is the person you are informing of the decision likely to react? What is the impact going to be for them? What can you say to reassure them? Or to lessen any negative impact of the decision? Be sensitive to the fact that they may respond to the decision emotionally, in which case a rational explanation of the decision may not be the best response.

Where the decision reached is one that is going to directly affect someone else, it is only decent to inform them face-to-face and explain it to them. Of course, this can lead to embarrassment and confrontation, but in the long run both of you will feel better about what has happened if the decision is communicated clearly and well.

The press is full of stories of people who allegedly have chosen the wrong time or wrong place to end a relationship. It’s said that the first time actress Minnie Driver found out that her relationship with actor Matt Damon was over was when he announced it on Oprah Winfrey’s chat show. Earl Spencer is said to have asked for a divorce from his wife when she was relaxing in the bath. As fans of Sex and the City will recall, Carrie was dumped by one boyfriend through a Post-it note. And I certainly hope the American company The Break Up Bear, which delivers a teary-eyed bear with a message ending the relationship, goes out of business soon.

If you need to communicate a decision which will be distressing to another person, find a place where you can be private and have time to discuss the issue. Be completely clear about what the decision is. Don’t try to disguise it. If you have decided to end a relationship then make that clear. Talking about spending slightly less time together sounds false and evasive, unless you really mean that.

Try to think in advance what the impact will be on the other person. What can you do to lessen the blow, if anything? Ideally, have some suggestions planned before you begin. If you are ending their job, do you know of other opportunities that may be available to them? Help them to move on from the impact of the decision you have made. Of course, it may be that they need time to digest the disappointing news, before they can look forward. Be sensitive to their reaction. They may want to leave the room as soon as possible.

It can be important to express how you feel sometimes. ‘I am really sorry to let you down, but I had to decide which project to support – I’m not able to support both.’ Give the context of the decision. ‘I am afraid another company came in with a bid which was significantly lower than yours and at the end of the day we would be making much less profit if we went with you.’ You can be honest without being brutal.

Action planning

Having made the decision you now need to put it into practice. That may be straightforward – you must send the e-mail or buy the new suit. But if the decision has been over a vaguer issue, it may not be so straightforward. You have made the decision, but how do you implement it? You have decided to move house or get a new job – that might be the easy bit, but what now?

There are plenty of people who have made wise decisions to do something, but then have never quite got around to implementing them. It’s not good making the decision and then thinking it will automatically happen – you must make an action plan to implement it.

Here are some top tips in relation to action planning:

• Be clear where you are now. You cannot know how to move towards your goal unless you know where you are. You should have determined that before you made your decision but it is worth reminding yourself.
• Be clear about your objectives. You should have done this while making your decision. Where do you want to be? Which aspect of that is negotiable and which is an absolute requirement? Never lose sight of your essential requirements; your job is to implement your decision in a way that achieves your goals. If you miss them, something has gone badly wrong. What are the key objectives, and which are desirable but not essential?
• Are your objectives achievable and measurable? There is no point in seeking to reach a goal you never can reach or one that cannot be measured. You might decide to lose five kilos in a week, but that just isn’t going to happen. Your objective must be realistic. If you select too vague a goal you cannot create an action plan because you don’t know where you are trying to get to.
• How are you going to get to the goal you want to reach? That may be a straightforward question and the answer obvious, but it also may not be. In which case you may need to break your plan down into smaller steps. What can you currently do that will take you closer to your goal? When I decided as a youngster that I wanted to be a lawyer, I did not know at that stage what kind of law I wanted to practise; or precisely in which capacity; let alone where or with which firm. So a big decision like that needed to be broken down into realistic smaller goals. In my case the first stage was to undertake a law degree. Without a legal qualification I would never achieve my ultimate goal. Whatever the decision you need to make, what is crucial is that you should ensure that you are always moving towards your goal. Do not be side-tracked by temporary difficulties or tempting offers which might have some short-term appeal.
• Set yourself a timetable. When can you reasonably expect to have achieved your goals? Have time limits. Be realistic. People tend to underestimate how long it will take to do a job. Build in some time for unexpected events.
• Review how you are doing. Having gone to the length of writing an action plan, it will be no good if you do not review it. You need to keep checking how you are doing. Have you missed a deadline? What could you have done better? Do you need to rewrite the action plan in light of the current situation? Have new opportunities opened up so that you can achieve your goals even more quickly?
• If you can, tell a friend or colleague about your plan. Take encouragement from them as you progress along the way. Discuss things with them when you have fallen behind. With a supporter at your side who knows what you are seeking to achieve, the journey may be easier. Studies of those dieting and trying to quit smoking suggest that having friends who can say ‘well done’ when you achieve your goals and urge you on when the going gets tough is very helpful. These people are far more likely to succeed than people who do not have a supportive network of friends.
• Prepare a contingency plan. If you can foresee problems, what will you do in those scenarios? Are there alternative ways to reach your goal if something goes wrong? You won’t be able to cover every contingency, but it will be easier for you to face any disappointment if you already know what you will do. It is always hard to receive a set-back to your plans, but if you have already thought through how you will respond it is unlikely to look so bad.
• Foresee your weaknesses. What part of the plan are you dreading? What can you think about now to help you deal with that? It is easier to think about possible weaknesses now than when a panic sets in! Will giving yourself treats when you complete sections of the plan be an incentive?

Summary

Having read this chapter you will have learned how to explain your decision to others. Remember to look at the decision from the perspective of the person you are talking to. Explain to them as clearly as you can why you made the decision you did.

We have also learned how to implement decisions. Draw up an action plan. Foresee where you may have difficulties in putting your decision into practice and decide now how you will deal with them. Use family and friends to help guide you through to a successful implementation of your excellent decision.