Decision making in leadership: don’t go it alone

Every day sees leaders making a range of different decisions. From the big, strategic decisions, to the smaller, seemingly innocuous decisions, they all have their impact across an organisation. 

With so many choices to weigh up, leaders can often feel the burden of making decisions, but it doesn’t have to be a one-person job. 

Share the decision-making process with your team 

Consulting your team for their thoughts and ideas before a decision can help to improve the overall solution. Collaboration is key for ensuring that you’ve covered all bases and that new perspectives are taken into consideration. 

By bringing your team into the decision-making process, you’re getting them engaged in the outcome, demonstrating how their opinions and ideas matter to the organisation and taking them on the journey so that when it comes time to implement the solution, they’re on board. 

Even those who disagree with the final decision will have a better understanding of how it came about after being involved in the process and it will mean less friction through the implementation stage. 

Seek advice and guidance from your peers 

Not every decision is appropriate to table with your team – sometimes these matters are confidential or strategic – but it doesn’t mean you need to shoulder it alone. 

Build strong relationships in your peer network: fellow leaders, coaches and mentors who you can approach when you need advice to make a decision. Seek their thoughts on your ideas to reassure yourself that you’re taking the right steps, and get input from them about similar situations so you can build on their learnings. 

Seeking this advice can help you to crystallise your thinking in a way that gives you more confidence as you move to make the decision. 

Collaboration is key, but you won’t always have time

Some decisions need to be made quickly because of short timeframes and urgent situations that arise. You won’t always get the chance to collaborate as much as you like – whether with your team or with your peers. 

When these situations arise, it’s important to still keep your team in the loop. Communicate clearly to help them understand why the decision was made so quickly and without consultation. 

Most importantly, don’t make it standard practice. When this kind of decision making happens often, teams can feel left out of the process with less ownership and involvement in organisation decisions. From there, it can become more difficult to implement solutions, with teams resisting change. 

Want to become a confident and collaborative decision maker? People Make the Difference can help. To find out more, visit www.pmtd.com.au or call us on 0412 333 415. Try our online leadership training videos – $99 for complete access. Great value if you’re committed to growing your leadership potential.