This article originally appeared on AMEinfo.com.

No company can reach its full potential unless it makes good decisions quickly and consistently and then implements them effectively. Bain & Company’s 10-year research program involving more than 1,000 companies showed a clear correlation (at a minimum 95 percent confidence level) between decision effectiveness and business performance.

And it isn’t just financial results that suffer. Organizations that can’t decide and deliver are dispiriting to their employees.

But things don’t have to be that way. Working with clients across industries, we have developed a five-step process to help companies improve their decision muscles.

Step 1 – Score your organization.

Step 1 is a rigorous, fact-based technique for benchmarking both decision abilities and the organizational elements that either help or get in the way. It’s important to assess your performance on decision quality, speed, yield (or execution), and effort. A good way to begin is to survey a cross-section of people throughout the organization. The goal is to answer some key questions: What percentage of the time does the organization make the right decisions? Are decisions made faster or slower than competitors? Is there too much (or too little) effort involved?

As part of the process, identify the obstacles. Here, too, you can use surveys and interviews. Sample questions might include: Are individuals clear on the roles they should play in critical decisions? Do people with decision authority have the skills and experience they need?

The insights you generate will allow you to understand not just where your decision abilities are weak but why, and then create an effective plan of attack.

Read the full article at AMEinfo.com.

Paul Rogers is the managing director of Bain & Company Middle East and Turkey. Paul has 30 years of experience with Bain and is a senior member of the company’s Organization, Consumer Products and Retail practices.

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