Leaders struggle with two challenges

Leaders struggle with two challenges when trying to make good decisions:

• Making bad decisions, and
• Taking far too long to make them

This is the second in a series of posts where I show you how to deal with both in a very straight forward way. You will learn:

There are 5 Simple Steps* to consistently making good decisions.

To review Step 1, just read my previous post. And remember, as you read though these steps, take the biggest problem you’re facing in your business today and apply these steps…

Step 2: You must avoid the 10 Bad Decision Making Habits

Or, as I prefer to say – you must follow the:

10 Commandments of Good Decision Making!

1. Thou Shalt Not Rule by Consensus

On a healthy team, when your vision is clear and everyone is on the same page, 80% of the time or better, everyone will agree with the decision. However, for those few times when there’s not consensus – someone needs to make a call. That someone is the leader. Consensus management doesn’t work – period. If you believe that group consensus is always required, this will eventually put you out of business. As the leader, your decision may not please everyone, but as long as everyone has been heard (and if the team is healthy), they can live with it. From there, the team must present a unified front moving forward (see a great link on this in the reference section below).

2. Thou Shalt Not be a Weanie

The solution is almost always simple and obvious – it’s just not always easy. As a leader, you must have firm resolve, strong will, and the willingness to make a tough decision.

3. Thou Shalt be Decisive

In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill cited a study that analyzed 25,000 people who had experienced failure. Lack of decision, or procrastination was one of the major causes. In contrast, analysis of several hundred millionaires revealed that every one of them had the habit of reaching decisions quickly and changing them slowly. It’s less important “what” you decide than it is “THAT” you decide.

4. Thou Shalt Not Rely on Secondhand Information

If the issue involves multiple people, you need to have them all present. You may think you understand all the perspectives, but if you don’t have all the people in the room, schedule a time when everyone can attend.

5. Thou Shalt Fight for the Greater Good

You have to put aside all the egos, titles, emotions, and past beliefs. Focus on the vision for your organization (see Step 1). You have to be able (and willing) to cut though the politics, the personalities, and the personal objectives. Step back and make sure you stay focused on the greater good, the result will be better / faster decisions.

6. Thou Shalt Not Try to Solve Them All

There are always more issues, resist the urge to ‘start at the top of the list’ or ‘tackle the easy ones first”. Go one at a time, starting with the highest priority, most important issue first.  You’re after quality, not quantity and the reality is, many of the smaller ones are symptoms of the larger/high priority issue anyway.

7. Thou Shalt Live with It, End It, or Change It

When it comes down to it – You really only have three options – live with it, end it, or change it. Just decide which one it’s going to be. If you can’t live with it any longer, you’re now down to two choices. Living with it should be a last resort, but if you do go this route – then you also have to quit complaining about it.

8. Thou Shalt Choose Short Term Pain and Suffering

Decision making is hard and tough decisions often involve pain and suffering. The question is, are you defaulting to long-term pain and suffering because you’re putting off the decision? Solve your problem now, rather than later. The fear of doing it is worse that actually doing it.

9. Thou Shalt Enter the Danger

The issue you fear the most is the one you need to discuss and resolve. (Is this the one you wrote down at the beginning ??) When things are tough, people tend to freeze and when you’re afraid, your brain works against you. You have to remain rational and utilize critical thinking – make a list of all the things that are worrying you (and be honest with yourself). Then go back to number 6 above.

10. Thou Shalt Take a Shot

Taking a shot means you should propose a solution. Don’t wait around for someone else to solve it. If you’re wrong, your team will let you know. Groups of people love to discuss an issue – discuss, discuss and discuss – but no one offers up a solution. Finally the quietest person in the room will speak up. And after an awkward moment of silence, someone will say – that’s a good idea and then everyone agrees. Don’t be afraid to take your shot.

Summary

Step 2: You must avoid the 10 Bad Decision Making Habits

If you are struggling to make a decision, check and see if you are following each of the 10 commandments. Chances are, one (or more) of these bad habits is holding you back from making the decision. Let me know if you made any progress…

In the next post, I’ll share Step 3 of How to Consistently Make Good Decisions.
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What steps do you follow to ensure good decisions?

References / Additional Resources

Unified Front – A great book dealing with the importance (and the power) of this is – The Transformational Power of Executive Team Alignment by Miles Kierson.  Or read Gary Tomlinson’s book report on Miles’ book.

Root Cause – A simple, yet effective technique to get to the root cause of an issue – the 5 Why’s.

*DECIDE! – The One Common Denominator of all Great Leaders, by Gino Wickman