Making Big Decisions for Leadership Effectiveness

It’s graduation season: achievements, celebrations, and big (scary) decisions.  In business, we’re making big decisions too for leadership effectiveness to key drivers like strategic action plans, budget reforecasts, and talent strategies all to flex mid-year with shifting dynamics.  Decision-making requires sound judgement even when we don’t have the knowledge we need to make the best choice.  And in those big decisions, we will rarely have 100% of the information we’d like to have, and yet a decision still needs to be made. 

We’ve all panicked in the face of big decisions, sticking with the status quo and trying to ignore the decision all together.  But leading ourselves well means pursuing progress even amidst the discomfort, risk, and unknown.  There is good news!  Decisions do not have to be made in a silo.  There are approaches that can help you make more informed, more timely, more sound decisions in many of these daunting situations. 

This month’s blog post will highlight some of these potential paths for helping you make faster, better decisions with examples for both recent grads and business leaders.  These paths and examples can help to minimize paralysis and erroneous decisions in the face of those big decisions when you simply don’t have the knowledge and experience you need or want.  If decisiveness is part of your leadership development plan, these approaches can be just as helpful for those reversible, low-cost decisions as you learn to embrace the ambiguities of life. Here are some potential paths and examples you could explore:

1.     Get Organized: Quality, timely decisions require you to be organized and disciplined; procrastination, forgetfulness, and misplaced requests can add unnecessary stress and pressure.  Recent graduates and business leaders alike can leverage technology to calendar deadlines and set reminders, maintain to do lists, and block time to maintain urgency in their decision-making.  Don’t miss that getting organized can also be as basic as creating a tidy work environment that provides space for thinking.

2.     Use Data: When you have data, use it to inform your decisions (when you must defend your decision, facts really help!). For recent graduates, this might involve gathering information about job prospects, salary ranges, and career trajectories before making a career choice. In business, data can help identify market trends, customer preferences, and areas for improvement.  Big decisions likely require more than just data, so incorporate the data you have into your process but avoid getting bogged down in the analytics. 

3.     Consult Mentors and Advisors: Seek guidance from experienced mentors or advisors who can provide valuable insights and perspectives. Recent graduates could turn to professors, career counselors, or professionals in their desired field. In business, leaders might consult with industry experts, board members, or trusted colleagues when facing tough decisions.  Don’t go it alone, especially when others have likely already walked a similar path; their expertise is another opportunity for you to develop your business and professional knowledge.

4.     Invite Others’ Input: Involve stakeholders in the decision-making process to foster buy-in and consider the perspectives of all relevant parties. For recent graduates, this might involve seeking input from friends, family, and peers about their lived experience. In business, collaborative decision-making can involve cross-functional teams or department heads working together to solve problems. Watch out for dismissing others’ perspectives because your position or accolades to date are superior to theirs.

5.     Scenario Plan: Anticipate different decision scenarios and challenge your assumptions with contingency plans to gain more confidence in your decision-making approach.  Recent graduates could use scenario planning to weigh the pros and cons of different career paths, for example. In business, scenario planning might include a SWOT analysis to help leaders anticipate market changes, competitive threats, and potential disruptions only noticed with this type of systems thinking.  Beyond contingency planning, scenario planning can also reveal gaps in your understanding that need to be explored before finalizing a decision.   

6.     Engage Ethically: Consider the ethical implications of your decisions and prioritize integrity and values. Recent graduates conflicted by ethical dilemmas, both personal and professional, could reframe decisions as reputation building for their personal and professional brand.  Business leaders pressured by ethical shortcuts need to remember that ethics are at the core of sustainable success because people choose to follow those they trust, and people are needed to deliver the work. Even when impatience and other pressures are pushing for a decision, don’t accept shortcuts that are unethical or not in the best interest of the team or yourself. 

7.     Break It Down: There are often smaller decisions to be considered leading up to the big decision.  For recent graduates venturing into a job search, break the process into pieces like networking, resume crafting, company research, and interviewing.  For business leaders, break large-scale decisions into phases or by department with smaller components being addressed at a time.  Big decisions can be overwhelming, whereas breaking the decision into incremental steps allows you to move forward one step at a time checking for validation and success each step.  

8.     Embrace Uncertainty: Accept that uncertainty is a natural part of decision-making and be willing to take calculated risks.  Recent graduates are not expected to have all the answers, acknowledging the experience (and even consequences) of a wrong decision is simply feedback for life’s next steps.  All business leaders will eventually encounter situations where there is no clear answer; focusing attention on what you know builds tolerance for ambiguity.  Delaying too long because of uncertainty may cause you to miss the opportunity or weaken your influence and relevance. 

9.     Communicate Decisions: When you have reached a decision, communicate it promptly and include any information that supports your process and decision.  Recent graduates may not want to disappoint family, friends, prospects with a decision, but sharing now allows new perspective for next steps or allows you to accelerate your plans.  Business leaders bolster their influence when decisions are shared broadly and timely, including the rationale for unpopular decisions helps too.  Don’t be tempted to let a tough decision leak out; own the direction and the explanations necessitated by the choice.   

10.  Learn from Mistakes: Over time you’ll be able to use past decisions, even failures, to make better decisions if you embrace failure as an opportunity for growth and learning. Both recent graduates and business leaders will inevitably make mistakes along the way (we all do); the opportunity is for those that reflect on their past decisions to help identify areas for improvement and prevent similar mistakes in the future.  Certainly, some mistakes are harder to unravel than others, but all mistakes include lessons for those willing to reflect and embrace the learning.     

Decision-making is indeed a crucial skill, whether you're a recent graduate navigating the uncertainties of adulthood or a seasoned business leader facing complex challenges. Depending on how much time is available, any one of these paths can provide helpful context for making decisions.  Use these approaches to build leadership effectiveness routines around your decision-making process to bolster consistency and reputational credibility over time.  By exploring each of these paths and examples when accessible, recent graduates and business leaders alike can make better, more timely decisions, whether embarking on their careers or navigating complex business challenges. 

I coach growth-minded professionals to lead well, get recognized, and thrive. As a leadership coach, I offer perspective, accountability, feedback, encouragement, and additional possibilities. I'd love to chat with you about how I can accelerate your journey to leadership at the next level.

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