Ever made a bad decision and regretted it?
I have in business. Wow, it’s painful. I wasted precious time, lost loads of money, and missed out on other opportunities because I chased a fantasy. Or I didn’t go after the opportunity in the right way. Or I didn’t accurately count the cost.
I’ve made bad decisions in personal life as well. I thought someone talked bad about me, so I attacked back. Then I discovered they weren’t against me at all. I harmed the relationship and had to apologize. Or I reacted to my wife without first understanding what she even meant, creating unnecessary strife that I also had to apologize for later.
Truth matters. Not just philosophical or religious truth. Practical truths like these:
- What’s the best way to move my business forward?
- Am I sure this is the right way to change things?
- Am I making decisions with accurate information? With adequate information?
In my experience advising organizations and individuals, I find that most of us lack practical truth. Employees don’t tell their bosses the honest truth they need to make good decisions, so bosses make bad decisions. Couples don’t communicate well enough to understand each other’s point of view, so they make bad decisions that jeopardize marriage and family.
On the other hand, there’s nothing more satisfying than a great decision. I once heard a leader tell me the success of his company hinged on one hiring decision he made twenty years before. “If I hadn’t hired that guy,” he admitted, “We wouldn’t be near as successful as we are today. He’s the main reason we are flourishing.”
So, how can leaders make better decisions? Here are a few pointers…
See the problem from several different angles.
It’s human nature to believe our point of view is THE point of view. I imagine a bold leader saying, “I call it the way I see it.” Then someone asks, “Well, is it possible there are other ways to see it?” “No,” the leader says back, “I see it the way it is.”
Wise decision-makers avoid this “myth of the one true view.” They know that success is a complex problem that involves seeing things from many angles. They seek honest counsel from diverse points of view, because they know they’re in the dark in so many ways and want as many spotlights of perspective on the landscape as possible. When leaders break out of a solo mindset in decision-making, and honestly seek the many angles offered by the different perspectives of their team members, they make better decisions. They also get more buy-in from those around them in the process.
Embrace dissent and disagreement.
Most leaders have trouble listening to people who might disagree with them, and most followers are reluctant to disagree because they’ll jeopardize their jobs. So the workplace is filled with misinformation and ignorance, a hot-bed for misinformed and ignorant decisions.
Leaders must invite dissenting views, then respond in respectful, safe and accepting ways toward these dissenting views once they’re offered. If a leader invites honest feedback and reacts the wrong way, workers will take the lesson to heart and never tell an inconvenient truth again. Now the leader is completely sealed off from vital information.
Ask co-workers what they want to know.
Leaders often assume their co-workers know things they don’t. So they’re almost always surprised at the answers when they ask, “What do you want to know that you don’t know?” It’s extremely easy for leaders to assume people know things because the leader has communicated once or twice, or because the leader himself knows these things.
“In the land of the blind,” wrote Erasmus the Dutch theologian, “the one-eyed man is king.” Most organizational leaders live in cultures of blindness, where honest feedback is scarce and misinformation is rampant. In this land of the blind, a leader who can get one eye open has a major advantage.