How to make decisions in times of crisis

We are in the middle of the biggest crisis most managers ever faced. Decisions are made under great uncertainty and have a big impact. How can managers improve their decision-making skills during this time?

The first step when making a decision is to take a deep breath. Focus and ask yourself what information is really necessary to make that decision. Human beings have the tendency to collect data for observation purposes and not for decision purposes. This means that we collect data for the purpose of collecting it and not for using it. One reason for this is, that having a lot of information symbols knowledge and power. Therefore, data is often used to underline status and power—not in order to make better decisions. 

We like to have a lot of data because it gives us the feeling of making an informed decision. However, using a lot but irrelevant data is just as good as using no data. To make good decisions under uncertainty we need to boil down the data to what is actually important. Only then can we make good decisions.