When You Are In Charge, Take Charge

Dealing With the Discomfort of Decisions 

The inability to make a decision in the face of uncertainty is the greatest barrier that holds people back. We have created a world of judgement. We are afraid of how others will react and how they will view us.

So we abstain.

There’s nothing to judge if you follow with everyone else.

I have been leading teams for over 15 years now. The most common developmental area that I have worked on with my teams is decision making. It’s easy to come up with reasons why you can’t make the call.

Not enough information. Don’t have enough experience. Don’t have the authority.

Do you know what the real reason is?

Fear.

It’s almost always fear. They just don’t want to make a mistake.

That’s normal. We reward success and discipline mistakes.

I have never chastised anyone on my team for making a decision, even if it was “wrong”. Making the decision is more important than them making the same choice I might have, or what the expectation would be.

As long as they can explain WHY they made the decision they did, I am good with it. It’s an opportunity to coach, teach and help them develop. If people are never given the opportunity to work through making decisions, how do you expect them to get better?

Mistakes and embarrassment is the price of entry.

Here’s my advice for any situation to make a decision:

• Step back and detach from a situation. Put yourself in the mind of an observer

• Focus on facts and what is actually happening, not to what could happen or the “what ifs” racing through your brain

• Ask the people around you what they are thinking and why

• Understand what the goal is

Once you have done that, do you know what’s next?

Shoot. Take the shot.

If it works out as planned. Awesome.

If not? Learn from it. Break it down, figure out what you missed or what else you should have considered.

You’ll do better next time.

As long as you keep your attention to learning and improving, you’ll be fine. You will also set yourself apart from 50% of people who are terrified to make decisions.