Growing Your Leaders Through Decision-Making Development
As a leader how you make decisions is important. Regardless of the size of an organization, decisions at every level can often alter the company’s direction and have lasting impacts on the employees and customers. How well each employee makes decisions affects their ability to lead – themselves and others. Leaders who prioritize developing decision-making skills not only inspire confidence but also foster a culture of trust and respect within their teams or organizations. For that reason, developing good decision-making skills across the company, at every level, is essential for growing the leaders you need.
I have found these three steps helpful:
Recognize: Does the new leader recognize or see the problem? I made this mistake early in my career. I assumed everyone saw the problem, but not everyone did. This is where teaching and training to your standards plays a vital role. And by standards, I mean: What are your expectations or organizational standards in the decision-making process? Some might say, “It is the high quality of our work.” Whatever it is, it is critical to have alignment across the organization about these expectations. Anytime I can get our team members input on what our standards are, it is extremely useful. Allowing the team member to give input is like planting the standard in their DNA.
Prioritize: Once the new developing leader sees the problem, you need them to determine what to prioritize when resolving it. Does it need addressing immediately? Does it need scheduling for later? Do we need to call someone? The new leader needs to know when to address it and why. Is it a safety issue, is it a normal maintenance item, is it out of our scope of work? The goal is for the new leader to figure it out by following the decision-making process and standards you have laid out for them.
Actualize: Now, the developing leader needs the opportunity to practice these new skills. Initially allowing them the opportunity to get feedback before they decide is useful and leads, in time, to their success. If they are successful, we are all successful. In time the goal is to build their decision-making and confidence muscles. It takes repetition and feedback from seasoned leaders to assist in this process.
I look forward to hearing how you are cultivating leaders in your organization.
Keep Growing,
Jeff
