Leaders have to make decisions on a daily basis; changes in the business, new hires or letting someone go all come into the remit of the leadership profession, and all place an enormous responsibility on your shoulders. The fear of negative response to your decisions can cause you to put off making them, making the situation far worse in the long run.

DecisionBefore making a decision, sit down and decide what about the situation is certain, what is predictable, and what is completely unknown.  By understanding the sources of ambiguity, you are more aware of the amount of risk you are assuming, and can therefore plan for this risk.

Making a big decision can seem daunting, even to the strongest leaders. One technique to combat this is to break the decision down into smaller ones. Take the example of product development; by breaking down a product release into small test groups, focus groups, and concept test, they create a balance between collating valuable information, taking swift action, and reducing ambiguity. This approach is easily utilised within leadership – by making smaller decisions, you are able to further your business whilst reducing risk.

Remember that decisions can be undone, you just have to be able to admit that you made a mistake. Reversing your decision after considerable research into why it hasn’t worked is far more productive to you and your company, and looks far better than blindly continuing on the wrong path because you are unwilling to admit that you were wrong.

Always consider the balance of risk and speed. Walking into a spur of the moment decision will not have allowed you to collate enough information to know whether this was the right choice, whilst waiting too long to decide allows further sources of risk to appear. Try to strike a balance between the two, allowing you to make better decision faster, and with less chance of having to backtrack.

To find out more about how to lead through your decisions, and get the strongest results, contact The Results Centre at alan@alandenton.co.uk.