To Be A Great Leader, You Must be a Great Decision Maker

You are going to make thousands of decisions in your career – good ones, bad ones, and even some really bad ones. Yet, as a business leader, making a decision is better than making no decision at all. Accepting the inevitability of imperfection is critical at the executive level. To decide is bold, powerful, and transformative. Making decisions puts you on the path toward finding a solution.

Are You Wrestling with A Decision?

Many people come to us at I’M NOT MAD AT YOU Consulting when they are facing serious questions that will have an impact on the future of their company. We know that every decision, even the “little” ones, can make a very big difference to you. Sometimes it helps to work with a third-party who can offer an unbiased and honest opinion when you need it the most.

Decisions made within an organization have broad implications that extend beyond the effect they have on the company itself. Employers and employees also have a stake in the outcome. Together, the three components comprise what we call, “The Triad.” The best decisions serve the benefit of not only the company, but the employer and the employees as well. The trick is uncovering the company’s greatest assets and to make decisions that will foster them.

Among our many tools, I’M NOT MAD YOU consultants use Wheels Assessment Training (W.A.T.) to help reveal the resources that should be maximized in order to serve “The Triad” most effectively. In private, confidential sessions, we are able to assess the challenges of your organization and recommend solutions based on the stated concerns and talents of your team members. In doing so, we help you take control of the decision-making process to confidently move your business forward.

5 Common Decision Making Challenges

Don’t let these five decision-making challenges slow you down. Call in consultants with experience navigating these obstacles and empowering your upper management to arrive at better decisions faster.

Fear of making a mistake.

Business leaders may fear the consequences of a wrong decision. “Don’t be afraid of making a mistake. The fear will paralyze you,” says I’M NOT MAD AT YOU Founder Stacey Bullman. “You want to minimize the risk of making the wrong choice, but not every decision can or should be deliberated at length. Sometimes the real damage occurs because the choice wasn’t made quickly enough.”

Swift decision making frees managers to address other problem areas, including the fallout from poor choices made in the past. You don’t want to shoot from the hip to make snap judgements, but rather, you need to learn a process that allows you to make critical decisions thoughtfully and efficiently.

Too many cooks in the kitchen.   

Personality conflicts come into play when there are too many partners, board members, or executives involved in the decision-making process. Each of us has a preferred method of working and communicating, varying greatly by energy level, pacing, and attitude. Some people tend to dominate the process with quick thinking and forceful tones. Others attempt to influence others to encourage more cohesive group decisions. Add to the mix “enablers” and “skeptics”- and it’s easy to see how important decisions can linger indefinitely.

Calling in a third party can put a spotlight on all these disparate personality types to help you build more effective teams. I’M NOT MAD AT YOU consultants use a variety of methods to gauge how emotions and behavioral responses may be interfering with your team’s decision-making abilities.

Failure to follow up.

Sticking with the decision is just as important as making it in the first place. Business leaders are sometimes so relieved to have made a decision, they just want to forget it and move on. But what they really need to be doing is monitoring the situation to determine if the results are as they hoped.  Emergencies happen and long-term goals are missed when opportunities to make follow-up decisions are squandered.  I’M NOT MAD AT YOU consultants ensure that you follow up on decisions made with the right systems for monitoring and the right metrics in place.

Lack of resources

Very few enterprises have the in-house resources necessary to take on major challenges that arise long-term. Just look at all the small businesses that fail within the first five years. There are many situations where your resources are simply lacking. Not every small company is equipped with a business planner to help the company scale up. Maybe you need more reliable market analysis, or to fine tune your presentation skills, or just need to learn how to track your bottom line.

Outsourcing some of these challenges to a third-party business consultant with practical experience in these areas can help you make even complicated decisions with greater insight than you have available on your team.

Inability to loosen the reins

By their very nature, the best consultants are invasive. As a client, you have to give-in to the idea of turning over accountability to someone else. The decision to hire a consultant is the easy part. The hard part is committing to the decision to shift your mindset and allow another party to hold you and your business truly accountable. You have to trust in your partner and trust in the process. Rest assured, when you cross over this threshold, the results will be remarkable. 

I’M NOT MAD AT YOU Helps Business Leaders Overcome Decision Making Hurdles

At I’M NOT MAD AT YOU, we help people make the tough decisions that make companies better. We invite you to make an important decision right now: choose a new path for your business. The ride will be exhilarating, illuminating, and dynamic, and it may also leave you feeling exposed, vulnerable, and even defensive. But you will learn new tools to overcome decision-making challenges that impact your business.   Contact us to get the ball rolling.