In my original blog in this series (http://bit.ly/2v8mXJm), I said there were 10 skills critical to your future success in the coming turbulent job market.  Today I want to discuss skill # 7, judgment and decision-making.

 

 

The Importance of Judgment & Decision-Making Skills

 

Futurist Thomas Frey estimates 2 Billion (that’s Billion with a capital B) jobs will be lost by 2030 worldwide. (http://bit.ly/2w4whhN) Those jobs will be lost to robots and software technology.  There will also be lots of new jobs created.  But…the new jobs will require a skill robots and software don’t have.  Human judgment and making the decisions arising out of those judgments.

Your job as a future Freelancer will be to make those judgments and decisions for your clients. And…this will be one of the most sought after skills.

You could be called upon to decide:

• Whether a program or service will even work for your client.
• If the program or service is desirable, how will it be integrated?
• What departments or divisions will fill new roles?
• What existing jobs may be eliminated or repurposed?
• Who will be responsible for the maintenance and updating of the new programs?

As you can see, the possibilities are almost endless.

 

Please define Judgment and Decision-Making

 

Judgment is the ability to evaluate a situation as objectively as possible.  Typically this will involve:

• Defining the challenge or opportunity
• Coming up with a list of possible solutions.
• Listing pros and cons of each solution.

Decision-Making is: Choosing a solution and implementing it.

Sounds simple, right?

Ah, if it were only that easy.

There are a few other elements involved, such as:

• Taking risks
• Having the courage to put a decision into play
• Admitting you’re wrong if it doesn’t work.
• Gathering feedback to try again.

 

Often This Whole Process is Defined as Leadership

 

“Wait a minute!” I hear you say.  “If I’m a Freelancer, why do I have to be a leader?”

Any one who has ever been in the military will tell you; leaders exist at every level.  From the smallest unit of 3 people, to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, someone is always in charge.

As a Freelancer, you will be responsible for integrating and coordinating many things.  That means you will be leading. You should be confident in your ability to do research, implement it, and manage conflict amongst others.  You need to be a keen observer, able to spot difficulties early before they grow into a crisis.  This requires an action orientation and an assumption of risk.

The distressing part of this whole thing is that research shows most people make decisions based on emotion.  Then they try to justify that decision with logic.

It will be up to you to show your clients a better way.

 

Where Can I go to Learn About Judgment?

 

Lots of places.  As always, there are books.  One of the best I have found is by Noel Tichy and Warren Bennis titled Judgment, How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls. This book deals mainly with senior leadership in large organizations. It is still a good tutorial for developing the skills needed for good judgment. Plus, there’s a nifty handbook included at the end.  There is a link below if you would like to buy this book. (Full disclosure, I am an Amazon Affiliate)

There are also lots of courses available.  Just Google “Decision-Making Courses” and a ton of choices will come up.

Finally, there’s plain old everyday practice.  We all make decisions.  Lots of them, every single day.  Some turn out well, others not so much.  Analyze the good ones.  What did you do right?  Learn from the bad ones.  What could you have done better or differently?

The important thing is to start now.  The better you are, the more prepared you will be when that Freelancing opportunity appears.