Leaders are decision makers. Period.
Whatever the time of year and season of life, lots of decisions are probably on your desk or in your to do list waiting to be pushed forward. It’s something we must do. Constantly.
So here are 5 points to help you with making leadership decisions:
1. Understand that it’s part of your job
Making decisions as a leader is normal, ordinary and required. It’s why you are a leader. Embrace it.
2. Sleep on the big ones
For big decisions, always sleep on them. The extra time will allow your decision to be made without the spontaneous emotion that comes with a spontaneous response.
3. Know your values
As Roy Disney stated, “It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” Many times indecision occurs because of lack of clarity on vision and values. Values are foundational and must be in place in order to move the organization forward.
4. Understand the context
Do your homework and make sure you are informed. Plus be aware of the situation – in the case of a good/bad decision, those are pretty easy. In the case of a better/best decision, those take a bit more time to push forward and get to a final decision. Different decisions require different levels of involvement, awareness and information.
5. Just do it
Create a culture of action in your organization. Many leaders quickly become overwhelmed with several decisions in front of them and then unintentionally paralyze the organization by avoiding them all. Create
a system of action that demands completion and execution, and ultimately your system/culture will demand decisions from you.
Brad Lomenick is the past leader of Catalyst, one of the largest gatherings of young Christian leaders. He is the author of The Catalyst Leader, and H3 Leadership. More at bradlomenick.com