Gauri Chhabra
Life makes you jump- from one hot coal to another. It throws curve balls at you, drifts you amidst myriad options where you are caught up in a maze. It is always one option pitted against the other. And you have to take decisions. From getting up in the morning, to deciding what dress to wear, to which career option to choose, to who would be my life partner, to which job do I take, when do I quit and many more. Life is a whirlwind of decision making – some easy while other tough.
Unfortunately, making tough decisions amidst chaos takes practice. While we take easier ones easily, we keep pushing the difficult ones under the carpet and even sugarcoat reality. These behaviors are of little use when you hold a position of leadership.
Instead of avoiding taking decisions, take them head on, before they become even larger obstacles. Here are some tips for being a more decisive leader. These go for leaders at all levels, not just at the top.
Have a sense of direction
As we learned in ALICE IN WONDERLAND, “if you don’t know where you’re going, any road’ll get you there.” To the extent possible, plan what your desired result would “look like. Many decisions can and should be delegated to others. Not only does that give them the practice, but it enables you to focus on those decisions that legitimately require your laser focus.
In case you are not in a leadership position, do not always wait for orders. When the need arises, lead your teammates and accomplish the mission. Lead by example. When tackling the challenges of leadership within an organization, you won’t always have someone there to guide every decision. Use the information at hand to make the best possible decision and adjust accordingly.Plan decision making in advance of making an actual decision. Know which aspects of the choices you are going to evaluate, have criteria for assessing each, and know how you are going to compare options. Don’t formulate an overall impression, but compare dimension by dimension and look for superiority among elements.
Avoid Predisposition to your own emotions:
When faced with a difficult question, we often swap it out for an easier one without even noticing the substitution. It’s an exchange between the conclusions and the arguments -the conclusion comes first then the arguments, though it should be the other way around. As an example, “If you ask people their opinions about ‘Make in India’ campaign, their views usually have nothing to do with the initiative itself, it’s their political predispositions you’ll hear.” Leaders have great confidence in things they feel optimistic about. If a leader feels positively about a strategy or project, they will defend it. The emotion comes first, and the rationale second. We think we do things for a reason, but the retrofit reason comes later.
While taking any decision, see to it that you like and forward your ideas, but do not get obsessed with your own idea to such an extent that you fail to see reason and take the decision based on pure emotions.
Face those difficult conversations
This becomes an obstacle for all of us. When confronted with difficult situations, we tend to procrastinate. As we grow high up the ladder, our decisions have larger consequences. It is better to face those situations and take the decision. Whether it’s your business partner, a direct report, or even your manager, it doesn’t do any good to put off much needed conversations. When we do that, things fester and get even worse. When we finally face the music, we realize we should have handled the situation a long time ago. Whether it’s letting a team member go, firing a client, or turning down an opportunity you know won’t be good for the company, do it now. Not tomorrow. Making a decision feels much better than not doing so. And it’s better for the company and your team.
Don’t put it off. It won’t fix things and it’s not fair to the other person
Remember that you are not alone
Well, most of the time. The decisions that are ultimately yours to make don’t have to come without getting direction and feedback from your trusted advisors. You put the team in place, so listen to them. Yet, be collaboratively independent. Confer with subject-matter experts, but avoid getting mired in decision-by-committee. Solicit the views of credible sources, but be prepared to own your own decision.
Keep it simple
Avoid information bloat. Someone said it well: “The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc.” Information overload can lead to analysis paralysis, which can lead to fuzzy thinking, which can lead to faulty decisions. Keep it simple.
Avoid Analysis Paralysis
Many leaders get unnecessarily paralyzed when facing simple choices. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, leaders spend disproportionately more time and energy struggling between two options than if they had more complex options. Their intuition says it should be easy, but they can’t act. “When there are two options, and you are indifferent to either, and they are equally attractive, it means it doesn’t matter which you choose -they are equally attractive with equal efficacy. Decision making theory says you should spend little time on these, yet leaders get paralyzed by them. They are at the mercy of uncertainties they can’t predict or control.” In my experience with executives, they are frequently prone to false-binaries, setting up dueling fact bases to support seemingly opposing options. Few organizational issues at the strategic level offer only two options. Yet the tendency to reduce complexity down to artificial polarities backs leaders into binary corners, frozen in inaction. One International school that was a client of mine was struggling to define whether to go for other alternative boards like CBSE or ICSE. While the data supported that the choices were viable, the two largest boards became the dueling choices, and the contest reduced to “which board deserves the investment” vs. which boards would the students embrace more? After a lot of discussion, they decided to stick to the original International Board. But, the ultimate decision came six months later than necessary.
Therefore, too much of dotting the ‘I’s and crossing the’t’s just delays decision making. At times, you have to just do it…
Do not sweat over small stuff
Beware getting stuck in the thick of thin things. Most of the hundreds of decisions and choices we make each day are relatively inconsequential-which dental floss to buy, or which salad dressing to order. Save your decision-making energy for the issues that really matter.Gather the best information available. Weigh the pros and cons of your options. Then decide. You’re unlikely to have all the answers, or even all the questions. And you can’t anticipate every possible consequence. Just be ready to build your wings on the way down.
Make a decision to be positive,
no matter what
We also make a conscious decision each day to be positive or negative. Sorry, but as leaders we don’t have the luxury of wearing our emotions on our sleeves. Becoming frantic or angry when things don’t go your way shows weakness and instability. Slap on a smile, lead the team with positivity, then go home and suffer in silence..
Have a positive mental attitude, have those difficult conversations, make those tough decisions, and keep moving forward. Pretty soon those issues will be an afterthought and you will be looking forward ready to face the next inevitable challenge.
Accepting we are biased toward certain outcomes provides a forcing function to embrace systematic thinking. Start with the assumption that all you see isn’t all there is to see , and you watch yourself rise in quality both in the decisions you take the and the life you make…
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