I have talked about trusting your gut in some of my other posts when it comes to decision making. There are times where you are dealing with such an ambiguous situation that you may not have anything else to go on. We even had buttons in our office that said “ambiguity is my friend” on them because we had to deal with so many unknowns. These type of situations will force you to make decisions with what you know at the time. It may be the right one or it may be the wrong one, but you have now made the decision and can move forward.
Having all of the “right” data and input to make decisions is obviously ideal, but it isn’t always possible. As you progress up the ladder, you will have to make decisions much more quickly and with less information. This is where trusting your gut comes into play even more. If you have been a leader for a while you have some historical perspective, experience, trusted advisors and common sense to leverage. Newer leaders are still gaining that experience. If possible, try to get input from others who may have been through it before to help you. It will take you time to build up your confidence, experience and trust in yourself to make the right decision.
There are some people who are just not comfortable enough to make a decision quickly even with all of the data and input in the world. This has been called “analysis paralysis.” They keep waiting for more data or more input to ensure they will make the best decision. Due dates will be approaching and the decisions will have to be made. You have to get good at making decisions with whatever data you have. This is where the 80/20 rule can be implemented. If you have 80% of the information about a situation, then you have enough to make the best decision that you can. This is a bit scary for first-time leaders. Your decision may lead to the exact outcome you wanted. But if you find out the decision you made is wrong, then you will just have to course correct and get back on the right path. Either way, you will learn from the experience for the next time.
There may be times that decisions are handed down to you to execute. You may or may not agree with the decisions. My best advice here is to move forward to implement the decision and raise up any issues that you identify along the way to your management. The lesson here is that no one makes 100% of their decisions correctly every time. Every leader that you meet will have a story of the worst decision that they made in their career. The sign of a strong leader is how did they deal with that bad decision and get back on track.
Have you been thinking about joining the ReVISION Program? Now is the time to get signed up. Here is the Re-VISION Program link for more information and to add your name to the sign-up list. This is the best decision you can make to ensure you have a great 2017!
