How Learning to Make Better Trade-Offs Can Make You More Valuable at Work

At some point in almost every career, you run into a problem that doesn’t have a perfect answer.

You can finish the project quickly, but the quality may suffer.

You can make it more thorough, but the deadline may slip.

You can help a colleague, but your own work will take longer.

You can keep improving a process, but the improvement may not be worth the time it requires.

You can satisfy one team’s request, but another team’s priorities may be affected.

You can wait for more information, but waiting may create its own cost.

These situations can be frustrating because there’s no option where everyone gets everything they want.

That’s where trade-offs come in.

A trade-off means accepting that choosing one thing usually means giving up, delaying, limiting, or risking something else.

It sounds simple.

But the ability to make good trade-offs is one of the skills that quietly separates people who are merely good at completing work from people others trust with more important work.