The Top 10 Ways to Dodge a Decision

Today's hyper-fast business markets require making one decision after the other, often without pausing to fully think through the consequences. And as we all know, it only takes one bad decision to tick off your boss, sink a business, or even ruin your day.

If the stress of making decisions has you bouncing off the walls, try playing a fun game we loved as kids -- dodgeball. Only in this case, you're dodging decisions rather than a round, rubber ball. When the decisions are coming at you fast and furious, here are 10 easy dodges to take the heat off and keep you in the game (even if you are playing not to lose).

    Show me the data! In today's information overload world, this is one of the most common decision dodges. Even when overwhelmed with data, leaders can easily say they don't have enough information to make a decision. So they gather ever more data as a means of delaying decisions while their customers and markets leave them behind.

    It's not my fault. This dodge typically occurs when faced with difficult or unpleasant decisions, or when no easy solution presents itself. It's also a favorite tactic of managers who fear the disapproval or enmity of their direct reports. When a tough decision presents itself, the decision dodger says, "If it weren't for (insert name), this never would have happened!" He then enlists others in playing a blame game rather than actually solving the problem. The truly skilled dodger keeps a long list of names on hand at all times.

    Let's kick it upstairs. In this dodge, the individual or team hopes someone will make a decision - as long as it's not them. The easiest way to pass the buck is to elevate the decision to a higher level and let someone else handle it.

    Let's put our heads together (and do nothing). Have you ever been to a meeting where the discussion goes on and on and nothing ever gets decided? Welcome to decision dodge #4. All the conversation makes people feel like they're accomplishing something. But at the end of the day, no decision is reached.

    Waffles, anyone? This dodge typically occurs in situations with two reasonably clear solutions. Like a kid trying to decide between a chocolate or strawberry ice cream cone, the team waffles back and forth between the two alternatives. Unlike the kid, who eventually chooses a flavor in order to get the cone, the team never quite takes that final step to come up with a decision.

    The "yeahbuts." In this dodge, people have no trouble making decisions. But as soon as they do, someone chimes in with, "Yeah, but... " and proceeds to offer a litany of reasons why the decision shouldn't be made, thus delaying any action.

    Risky business. Most organizations become risk adverse as soon as they begin experiencing success. So when a decision requires stepping outside normal boundaries, procedures, or ways of thinking, people scramble out of the way by saying, "We can't do that!" Or, "That's not the way our industry does it." Or, "What are you thinking? No one does it that way!" This dodge gets played at all levels of the organization.

    The self-yeahbut. This one plays out exactly like the regular yeah but, except that the person making the decision comes up with all the reasons why it shouldn't be made before anyone else can chime in. This dodge runs rampant in organizations that always punish failure.

    The lifeline. Remember the TV show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" When contestants didn't know the answer, they were allowed to call a friend to get help. Organizations frequently put off making decisions or taking action by calling in a consultant. If the decision goes wrong, they can blame the consultant, preserving everyone's egos and their jobs.

    It's not my job. The most time-honored and revered of all decision dodges typically occurs when someone not only doesn't want to make a decision, but also hopes that someone else doesn't make it. The trick is to dodge the decision as tactfully as possible without actually coming out and saying, "It's not my job." In corporate America, this dodge has been elevated to a high art form.

I hope you enjoyed this tongue-in-cheek look at what has become a serious problem for many of today's companies. (Remember, good humor almost always has some truth in it.) The problem is not so much that today's leaders fear making decisions; they fear making bad decisions. Given that today's fast-paced markets are far less forgiving than those of the past, it's an understandable fear.

It's easy to identify bad decisions after the damage has already been done. However, evaluating your decision-making process before implementing key decisions can save time, energy, and resources. It can also prevent the "do-overs" that often occur as a result of decisions that should not have been made or were made poorly.

Before making major decisions, consider the following:

    Quality of information. Did the data come from multiple independent sources or just one source saying the same thing in different ways?
    Leadership deference. Was the decision made based on the validity of the data, or did the leader's opinion unduly influence others in a certain direction?
    Thought bubbles. Was the decision driven by unspoken biases and assumptions about your customers, your business, or your industry that may no longer be true?
    Conflict avoidance. If it's a group decision, did the team engage in honest, open debate, or did it engage in groupthink in order to avoid conflict?
    Rush to consensus. Did the group accept the data without challenging it? Was there a rush to achieve consensus that might have caused key elements to be overlooked?

If your organization struggles to make timely decisions, start paying attention to how people dodge them. Then develop ways to support people making decisions rather than avoiding them. Dodgeball may be fun for kids, but it's no way to run a business!

Call to action: Take this list with you into your next meeting and see how many dodges occur and who's doing the dodging.

Bangladesh Economy to Bounce Back

Inflation in Bangladesh fell by 3 percent in 2011 to 9 percent. The currency has also somewhat stabilized. Thus Bangladesh is moving from a stormy situation to a much calmer one it seems. Along with these progresses, Bangladesh has also secured a loan from International Monetary Fund (IMF) worth $987 million. This loan is to be utilized to overcome its macroeconomic pressures and create a reserve buffer.

Iraj Ispahani of Ispahani Advisory pointed out some of the reasons for investors to return to Bangladesh. The main reasons would be - emergence of a substantial and entrepreneurial middle class and high employment with strong participation of women. He also said that the Myanmar effect would bring benefit to Bangladesh as people will realized that Bangladesh being a neighboring country to Myanmar has a better investment framework and macro environment.

A recent FTfm report noted that at the end of 2010, Bangladesh did what frontier market investors feared. The rally against sharp fall in the stock prices and violent protest by garments workers demanding the wages set by the government dashed away the hopes that fortune changes would be short lived. Even though the stock market remained volatile, the country's GDP grew at 6.0 percent, while IMF predicts it to grow at 5.9 percent in 2012. Bangladesh is one of the 30 largest economies in the world with a large informal economy that has a lot of potential. Furthermore, during the global economic crisis that troubled several countries to cope with, Bangladesh coped with it much better than many countries in the region with minimum impact mainly due to the cheap labour.

Women in particular have continued to play a vital role and have been the driver of growth for many years. The readymade garment industry that account for 80 percent of the country's exports and a significant number of women are employed in this sector. Women in the rural areas have benefited from the microcredit offered by BRAC and Grameen Bank. The microcredit has also let Bangladesh experience emerging middle class entrepreneurs.

The ongoing diversification into engineering, shipbuilding and pharmaceuticals industries are expected to increase the living standards and deepen the stock market. There are opportunities for foreign investors to play a role in the development in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is unable to finance certain infrastructure projects that are planned for. This is a lucrative sector where foreign firms could concentrate on and seek investment opportunities.

Currently about 65 percent of the corporate houses including Amzad Hossain led Pran Group, Azharul Islam led Aftab Group, Salman F Rahman led Beximco, Hashem led Partex Group are not listed. However, there is a tendency that many companies are now thinking of offering an IPO. The appetite for risk capital is growing and this is expected to benefit Bangladesh.

One vital barrier that Bangladesh has to overcome is when it will have to hold a legitimate, fair and free general election. Even with that, foreign investment is expected to grow along with domestic investments.

Basic Aspects of Freight Forwarding Services

Freight forwarding is a multi-billion dollar global business. From documents to large parcels, parcel forwarding companies have the networks to deliver packages to almost any part of the world. Parcels may range from personal packages to industrial raw materials.

Freight forwarders are companies or individuals that arrange and organize the forwarding and delivery of parcels. They serve as third-party service providers or agents that liaison between clients and cargo carriers. They also ensure that all the legal requirements such as tariffs and custom duties are paid. They provide the tracking system and may also provide insurance coverage.

Many private forwarding companies operate on a small-scale basis. Their common clients are individuals who may send personal documents and parcels. These may include post cards, greeting cards, gift items and personal properties such as clothes and gadgets. On the other hand, some freight logistics companies operate on large-scale basis. These companies may exclusively serve manufacturers and suppliers. They usually accept parcels in bulk.

Some of these companies have their own carriers, which may include airplanes and cargo ships. They are primarily concerned with trade and commerce-related parcels. The shipments include raw materials and finished products. From metal ores to cars, from sugarcanes to chocolate bars, many forwarding companies may focus on specific market sectors.

Most freight forwarding businesses simply provide non-asset-based logistic services. This means that they merely manage the shipment of parcels and ensure their efficient and safe delivery. Ensuring efficiency involves speed of delivery and cost-effectiveness of delivery.

Freight forwarders are the ones who contact the various carriers and warehouses. It is made sure that the shortest route will be taken at the shortest possible time and at the lowest costs. In many cases, it takes several carriers for the parcels to be delivered. This is especially true for international shipments. From its point of origin, a parcel might be shipped via trucks, airplanes, cargo ships, small boats and even motor bikes.

Aside from the physical aspects of warehousing, securing and transporting parcels, corporate forwarders are also concerned about the documentation aspect. This is actually the most crucial aspect of the business. Without documentation, parcels can easily be lost. They can be delivered to the wrong addresses or they might be mislabeled and confused with other parcels.

The documentation aspect includes the encoding of the shipment details such as the names of the senders and receivers, the respective addresses, and the type of items. It also involves legal documentation. Virtually all forwarding companies have specialized computer systems that store data related to the parcels and track the shipment of the parcels in real time.

Baby Boomers

Although most sources name the years for Baby Boomers 1946 to 1964,it is documented that some Baby Boomers started as early as 1942 and ended as early as 1953. This generation also was known as "Generation Me."

There is a book named Generation, authored by Jean M. Twenge, where he states that "Generation Me is someone who was born in the 70's through 80's, or even 90's." This book gives a description of how some people feel that the "self" is first.. The book goes on to say that Baby Boomers, for a short time, were thought of as the "Me" Generation during the 1970's" This is because their "self" was not figured out until they became adults. They did everything in groups, even as adults

Putting duty before "self" was not known by the "Me" Generation. They did not believe this as selfish because in growing up, they were taught to believe in themselves and to love themselves before loving another.

A question one might have is, "What do these children think of our world? Are their societal norms reflective of generations to come or of generations, past? It appears that this generation is more optimistic than Gen Y and Gen X. No other generation has ever been more influential on their parent's than generations of the past. They seem to be growing up earlier, but entering adulthood later than ever before. They think more of how they relate to the world, and how the world tries to define them. They tend to want to set their own social norms - and they can, since technology empowers young people in a way that's never happened before.

But they weren't immune from the norms that the rest of the world sets - for instance, we're all making the transition to adulthood at a later age than ever before.

Baby Boomers were goal-oriented having been given educational and financial opportunities from previous generations. While older generations were taught "not to speak out." baby boomers were able to speak out as in the Viet Nam Protests. The world was going to change and every generation, prior to the one they were born into, had to "keep up" and seek to understand future generations. Young males came home from the war and brought a large number of births that turned out to shoe a dramatic increase in population numbers of new born babies. The Baby Boom was here to stay.

The Business Didn't Succeed Because the Economy Sucked - He Said

Not long ago, I was talking to an individual about starting a new business, buying an existing business, or even setting up a new franchise. Although that decision had not been made yet, we did go through the various scenarios, potential opportunities in the area, and some of the challenges that lie ahead. There was one business for sale, through a private party that looked promising with some potential. There were also businesses of similar types within a 30 mile radius through several different business brokers.

The one business that my acquaintance considered potentially viable perhaps had not succeeded up to its full potential, or maybe it had in the past, but its heyday was gone, and therefore, we wondered is it possible to bring it back up to speed and surpass its once strong local market dominance. I asked what had happened, and why the business wasn't doing the level of revenue that perhaps it should. He explained to me that the business had not succeeded because basically the economy sucked after the financial meltdown in 2008.

If you know much about what happened out here in California, Nevada, and Arizona you can understand how the economy played a part in the destruction of so many small businesses. So, obviously I wasn't too surprised with his summation or observation about how come that business wasn't batting 1000 anymore. It is a reality that the economy in that area did suck.

Yes, true enough and yet, as entrepreneurs we are not allowed excuses, and a continued socialist regime in Washington could cause a continued economic downturn one you should be ready for, plus there will be additional costs with labor due to ObamaCare, and your personal taxes will rise with fewer deductions regardless of who gets elected on this go around. As I explained all this to him, he too was sketchy about the future, as are many entrepreneurs going forward.

Even many of the largest corporations are not spending a lot of money right now, and their holding onto huge cash reserves just in case. Can you blame them? After all, they have shareholder's equity and quarterly profits to worry about, and they can't take risks that big with an unknown future economy. Still, I can tell you this; most of the great strides I made in business as an entrepreneur were actually achieved during the worst economic times, and as things started to improve.

There is something to be said for getting in while things are bad, honing your skills, and getting ready for the good times. If you have all your ducks in a row when the market turns and the economy points upward, you are good to go. If we are going to hit a big upswing in the economy, it makes sense to get in on the cheap, and get the best deal possible before things return. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Ways To Troubleshoot A Unit

There are several reasons why an AC unit will stop working; however, no matter the reason--it's inconvenient. To be ready at a moments notice, you need to know what to check in your central air system to find the source of the problem. Some are simple checks of the thermostat, while others require changing the air filter or disconnecting and reconnecting the power source of the system. The importance of knowing how to troubleshoot is to save you time and money if you can find and fix the problem yourself. There are times when you cannot troubleshoot the system and then you will need professional help.

Let's start with all the steps you can take before you call a professional:

-If you are experiencing difficulty with your central air system, start with your thermostat. Here you have direct control over the system to regulate airflow and temperature. Start by making sure the system is turned on through your thermostat. Yes, this is a simple step, but many people forget when they turn their system off to turn it back on.

-Check the temperature setting on the thermostat and make sure the temperature is not higher than what it should be functioning on. If the temperature is higher, then the system may not need to turn on and is the reason why you aren't receiving any air. Adjust that temperature to what you prefer and see if the fans of the system turn on.

-Again, this may sound basic, but check that the system is set to "cool" and not "heat." This could have accidentally gotten moved without notice.

-If everything on the thermostat seems to be set properly then it's time to check other parts of the system. Start by selecting the breaker in your breaker box for the central air system. Sometimes a loss or surge of power can leave a breaker tripped and you need to reset it. Trying flipping the switch to reset the breaker and try to adjust your system to initiate the fans.

-Find your central air system, typically located in a basement, attic or garage and reset the system with a reset button or by removing and reconnecting the power supply. Be careful that you do not remove anything else that does not need to be disconnected.

-How about your air filter? If you haven't changed your air filter in a while then this could be the cause of your problem. Purchase a new air filter at a local hardware store and replace it with the old filter.

Do Processes Or Outcomes Drive Your Business?

What drives how you do business?

Do you operate based on your outcomes (results), or do you focus more on your processes (how things get done)?

Sometimes, as a business owner, you may have a certain way of doing something that works really well for you, or you do it a certain way because it's what you're most familiar with or seems most comfortable to you.

Most of the time, there's more than one way to accomplish the same goal.

Now, if you're a brain surgeon, or a heart surgeon, you probably have a series of processes that have to be strictly followed in order to have a successful outcome, and that makes perfect sense, but most of us aren't really required to follow processes that closely.

For the small business owner, you might want to start thinking outside of the box. In fact, you should get rid of the box altogether... just fold it up, toss it in the trash or burn it in the fireplace. Get so far away from the box that you forget it was ever there, because sometimes you need to focus on the results to have big successes in your business.

Sometimes, you need to go beyond what you're familiar with, beyond what you're comfortable with, to really make things happen in a big way.

For example, maybe you have a client who wants to do things a little differently. What happens when you tell the client you do things your way or no way at all? They probably walk, right? After all, there are a lot of people in the world and a lot of businesses offering similar services and products to yours and they can probably find your product or service elsewhere and maybe even get it their way.

The key is figuring out ways to make your clients want to do business with you instead of your competition. That might mean you have to compromise a little. Maybe you have to step out of your comfort zone, and learn a new method to keep your business growing and flourishing.

The key is you want to be doing things in your business that gets the job done, that get it done as quickly as possible, as efficiently as possible, and with as few mistakes and delays as possible.

And, sometimes when you do these things in that different way, and you accomplish the desired outcome, and you find a better, more efficient way to do something that ends up helping your business in the long run.

There's always more than one way to skin a cat.

Sometimes, you have to play with your processes a little.

You can always take tips from clients or other people - maybe your coaches, or mentors, or people in your mastermind group, or network - and then see what works best for you and your business.

Don't be so focused on doing things your way that you let opportunities slip away. Get out of your box, or just get rid of the box altogether.

Focus on the results of your actions, not just the processes that get you there and you'll be amazed at your results.

Diane Conklin is an internationally known author, entrepreneur, coach, consultant, event planner, speaker and copywriter. Diane is a direct response marketing expert who specializes in showing small business owners how to integrate their online and offline marketing strategies, media and methods, to get maximum results from their marketing dollars. As a marketing and business strategist, Diane shows entrepreneurs and small business owners how to outperform their competition by measuring their marketing, and strategically use multi-media campaigns to stand alone in their marketplace as the go-to provider for their products and services.