If you are in a position of influence, authority or leadership, ultimately you are a decision maker. Employees, teams, customers and providers all come to you for advice, guidance and critically to make key decisions that impact their respective circles.
Your ability to make the right calls in such situations will determine your own ability to thrive in your role, and the success of your business or organisation.
Did I make the right appointment… Did I select the right vendor or contractor…. Did I adopt the correct marketing or pricing strategy… Was I right to let someone go, or to terminate a contract with a difficult client or supplier or employee?
All of the above are routine issues that those of us in positions of leadership face every day, week and month. How do you react when in such situations?
Do you procrastinate for days and weeks, until ultimately a decision is made around you or for you?
Do you adopt the alpha persona and make quick and often rash decisions, often driven by emotion?
If you were to look back over the past 12 months, what key decisions did you feel you got both right and wrong. Crucially what were the determining factors in those situations?
For those in a position of leadership and influence, your job and responsibility is ultimately to make decisions, not simply good decisions. How many of those decisions are good, will depend on your ability to listen to those around you, understand the facts of the matter at hand, and learn from previous mistakes. In many cases you are required to assimilate all of that information quickly when time is of the essence. Procrastination is often your worst enemy.
We have all made, what in hindsight were bad calls. God knows I have. But I can’t let that stop me making decisions on a daily basis that will have a major impact on my business. As someone who was once too headstrong for my his good, and made some rash decisions driven by emotion and underpinned by inexperience, I am confident that I am improving everyday so that I can continue to provide leadership and clarity to my team and clients.
It isn’t always plain sailing, it never will be, and wrong calls will be made. At the end of the day, however, they are mine and your calls to make. We just need to trust that through constant learning and listening to those around us, we make fewer wrong calls tomorrow than we did yesterday.
Do that, and you can’t fault yourself or allow one bad call to deter you from making the next. Remember…. ‘Your job isn’t to make only good decisions, it is to make decisions….”
Have a good end to the week.
Dick