I recently read an article that stated that today’s leaders’ #1 issue is decision making. It went on to explain that leaders fall into one of two categories – some are slow to make a decision so miss out on opportunities while others move too fast and fall on their faces.
The other issue from my point of view is that lots of leaders rely on past decisions to make new ones but don’t take into account that several or many changes have occurred in the interim.
So how does a leader develop innovative ideas and then successfully implement these decisions?
Before the decision(s) are announced, a savvy leader will look inward; in other words, conduct a “self audit”. They
need to honestly ask themselves what is driving this decision.
Ego?
Competitors?
OR
Pressure from Board members or customers or others, including governments, local communities, etc.?
They also need to consider if they are anxious at all about the decision.
Such questions as…
“Is this the right course of action?”
“If so, is this the right time to execute it?”
“Do I have the right employees now or do I need to hire more or ones with different skill sets?”
“How is this going to affect external stakeholders, including vendors?”
“Are we going to need to revise certain protocols and/or policies?”
and most importantly,
“What will our customers think?”
All of these questions and probably others can raise the blood pressure of even the best leaders.
To help them or really anyone who questions their decisions Tim Ferriss, author of the 4 Day Work Week, has created an exercise that is called the Fear Setting exercise.
It is a structured reflection exercise used to help see decisions more clearly when one feels that their fears are holding them back and distorting their thinking.
Another piece of decision making that leaders overlook is determining how quickly members of the organization adopt these decisions.
Usually when an executive or the C-suite announce a decision, the first reaction most employees think “How is this going to affect me?”
For some, it may be welcomed wholeheartedly but for others it makes them uncomfortable because it takes them out of their comfort zone. It will probably require that they change their routines/habits which they may have established long ago.
Teams may also have to be reorganized with the addition of new members and/or new managers or existing ones being asked to leave.
This can be viewed as changing the “family/team dynamics” which could result in existing team members grieving just like they would with any loss.
Decision making is indeed extraordinarily complex.
Leaders need to recognize that they are not just making a singular decision but instead placing a huge risk on various factors, including the bottom line but also the morale of the employees, the company’s overall credibility, and the trust of the consumers.
As we have witnessed many times, companies have truly faltered in this area for decades but it seems it is even harder today.
There are no easy answers for today’s leaders but they also need to start to develop emerging leaders focusing not so much on technical skills but instead soft skills like emotional intelligence and critical thinking.
