As we navigate the jungle of daily life, we are faced with multiple levels of decision making. We wake up in the morning and make easy decisions like which brand of coffee to drink, what style of coffee, black coffee or do we cream it up…You can see I’m a big coffee fan. 😊 As we progress in our day, the decisions continue. Some small and insignificant and others larger and much more critical. Some of our decisions are personal or family in nature and others are tied to our professional life. The point is, we are faced with hundreds of decision points every day. In fact, I read a statistic on psychologytoday.com that we make up to 35,000 choices per day – considering sleep, that’s around 2,000 decisions per hour. So as a leader, how do we best process all the data and information we have to help us confidently make our decisions? I hope to help you answer that question in today’s writing.

I italicized confidently because this blog is hopefully read by leaders who don’t always see themselves as the best, most equipped, or overly ready. The introvert who’s trying to earn his/her way into the leadership position they want or are already in. It’s not unusual for a leader, especially a young or new leader, to make decisions based on what others might think or hope for over what the true needs are, or the data might suggest. If your objective is to make decisions that make individuals happy over the group, you will find yourself in a tough spot. Stepping into a confident position to make a call that may not always be popular, even with direct reports, is a better proposition in the long term for the overall health of the organization and its people. The truth is, making decisions you think people like today could hurt down the road because it erodes your credibility as a leader – ultimately, the result you fear ends up happening anyway.

Story Time

When I first stepped into a C-level role, I was young. The company was a middle market performer with a well-established older leadership team. They had deep relationships with the people in the organization and the customer base. The downside of the organization was a lack of long-term vision, strategy, focus, and diversification. What I saw was a concern to the shareholders and I knew we would have to make some tough decisions to bolster the organization. One thing I realize today is that I was VERY naïve as a leader. There were significant changes in mindset and decision-making process that were needed. We needed to say yes to new opportunities and turn on the faucet of new business – and needed to do so quickly! I also believed that we need innovation in marketing and culture building. My mistake was thinking the older, more established leadership team that were my new direct reports would be automatically sold on some of these new plans and decision points. They weren’t. To double down or, to win points with them, I rarely pushed or held them accountable for anything related to culture, values, and principles. I thought that if I was indirect with them and/or avoided making major decisions that impacted them, that I would some how get their buy in. Spoiler alert: I never did. In my attempt to win them over, I failed to connect with them as a leader. Today, I have an entirely different leadership team as the previous group have sense retired. The lessons learned when I was younger were valuable as I learned the importance of making long term decisions that are good for the employees, customers, and shareholders. The decisions were no longer made to get certain people to like me, the decisions needed to be made to make the organization better.

3 Steps to Better Decisions (My Process)

So how do we make better decisions? There are thousands of factors that go into decisions including neuroscience, game theory, and more. In fact, I read this fascinating study in neuroscience that is looking into the idea that most of our decisions are made unconsciously. Basically, our unconscious mind makes the call and our conscious part of the brain only justifies it once we are aware of it. We apparently do that to protect ourselves from being overloaded with data and decisions points. That’s a lot to sort out and very interesting but not practical, is it? So here are 3 easy to remember keys that I look at and rely on when making major decisions.

Values: Know your principles and non-negotiables

I grew up in Alaska. It is a vast place with mountains, forest, wilderness, wild animals, creeks, and rivers. It can be an unforgiving environment where one mistake while out in a hike can turn deadly. There isn’t a lot of tolerance for error while exploring that part of the country. If you go out and about for a hunt or a hike without a compass, without a base line plan, there’s a high risk that you simply won’t know where to go next. Do you go left or right? It can be dangerous, demoralizing, and overwhelming.

Making decisions in business (and life) without a set of principles, values, or non-negotiables is like hiking around Alaska without a compass. An example application of this concept is hiring and recruiting practices. I once asked a program manager within my organization the following: “When making a hire, if I asked you what our non-negotiables are in terms of hiring for character, principles, values, traits, etc., would you be able to answer that?” His answer. “No.” If we fail to educate and communicate the leaders in the organization our values and principles, how will we ever make the right recruiting decisions? This concept goes far beyond recruiting in the organization. A set of values is like a compass that helps you as a leader navigate the data like navigating a forest.

Lastly, one critical aspect of values in an organization is the concept of shared mindset. General Mattis, in his book Call Sign Chaos, called it a shared spirit. The more effective we are at creating a shared mindset, common understanding of values, vision, priorities, and trust we come to decisions faster as a group. In fact, we need less debate, fewer details, and we avoid paralysis by analysis. Instead, we create a decision making system, or machine, that simply gets the job done. If we can establish commonality, delegation and quick decisions making is a direct result.

Key Idea: Establish organizational non-negotiables, principles, and values. Communicate them everywhere and all the time, adhere to them and your entire organization will make better and more aligned decisions.

Make it about others

I don’t think I’m a very good public speaker. Sort of consistent with the why of this blog. Not everyone leads or walks out on a stage with natural confidence. It takes work. The feedback I’ve received is that my public speaking is solid and in fact, I’ve been asked to give advice for how I approach it. When I considered my answer, I realized this must be applied to other areas in my business and personal leadership. And I believe it can be a very effective principle to help us make great organizational decisions. When I speak publicly, I work hard to make it about others. I turn the message around and make it about the audience, or I make it about the team, or I make it about the customer. The point is, I make it about anything but me. It’s a protection against selfish pride and ambition which in the long term will cost a leader.

This may seem somewhat contrary with the anecdote near the beginning when I remark about not getting wrapped up in making decisions to make others happy. Let’s explore that for a second. When I first stepped into a new leadership role, I wanted to drive the organization to new wins in new markets and diversify the base of business. That was inherently the best thing for the organization and the shareholders. There were key leaders in the organization that didn’t want to do that. And while I tried to handle them with kid gloves and manufacture a relationship with them, I knew I couldn’t placate their desire to stand pat. I didn’t make it about them, but I did make it about others. It was a better overall position for the shareholders and the collection of the team that we solidified the sustainability of the company. We ended up growing, a lot. And fast. They ended up leaving. We brought in a new team of leaders that valued growth and culture.

Key Thought: The more we look away from ourselves as leader and take accountability for those that look to us for leadership and guidance, the more our decisions are rooted in deeper meaning and bigger purposes. Make your life and leadership about others and experience the positive difference it’ll make.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”  Phil 2: 3-4

Be resolved

I remember vividly going through some trials not too long ago. We were having leadership issues, a customer had concerns, we had internal silos, negative people/conflicts, and politics. The path forward required some tough decisions and hard conversations. There was a time as I was going through it, I felt mentally exhausted. When mental exhaustion enters the pictures, our natural tendency is to resist the challenge or take an easier road. Essentially, we let the surge push us back. At that point, we can lose sight of the necessity to move forward and fail to make the critical decisions that simply must be made.

An old commander of ancient warriors was leading his troops amid a bitter and exhausting battle. One night, he pulled them together and said tomorrow as we fight, when you hear my signal, I want you to surge just one more foot. The commander knew the end goal, had the non-negotiables in mind, and was thinking of his fellow countrymen. The next day as the battle ensued, swords and spears were out, and fatigue set in. Dirt, mud, sweat, and blood covered the battlefield. As the two formidable foes locked together, both were to the point of full exhaustion. Then the commander sounded his signal and his warriors surged just one more foot as directed. They overwhelmed the enemy and won the battle. Enter resolve.

Resolve is fundamentally based on establishing your values and non-negotiables, making it about others, and then applying courage and energy to do what needs to be done. To me, resolve has a definition, but it’s also a feeling. It’s that little thought in your head that reminds you, “the night might be long, but we’ll be here in the morning.” I don’t know if resolve gives us confidence or if confidence gives us resolve. But I do believe that the shallower our commitment to the non-negotiables, others, or your big picture end goal, the weaker our resolve is.

Key Thought: I like the noun definition of resolve: “Firm determination to do something.”

Wrapping it up

Leadership is hard enough on its own. Leading without a compass and a direction only makes the challenge more daunting. Decision making, and especially your process to decision makings, needs to be sorted out in order to achieve long term success. You’d never go walking in a jungle or forest without a map or compass; why should you try to lead the same way?

At the end of the day, our strengths, gifts, background, and purpose all work together to help us become better leaders. I encourage you to have confidence in your gifts and be ok with the idea that we are all gifted in different ways. I’m a visionary type of person. One of my methods in leadership is to communicate encouraging stories the masses. My enjoyment comes from encouraging people and building comradery wherever possible. That’s just for me personally, what I encourage you to do if find your gifts and strengths and use them in a positive way for others.

My challenge early on, and this applied to decision making, was not having confidence in my gifts, passions, and leadership. It was especially challenging because I did not always feel like I fit the industry I am in. The industry I work in is at times considered boring or “stuck in the mud” when it comes to branding, marketing, people relations, pursuing new work, challenging status quo, etc. So, when I brought my mindset into an established black/white culture, there was certainly pushback. When I wanted to push out Newsletters, Employee Spotlights, Video Series, be aggressive in new work pursuit, there was pushback. “You’ll never win that I heard.” “Nobody will care.” When we won something, I’d hear, “You’ll never execute it.” Then we did. 😊 And the more we communicated and appreciated people, the better collaboration and feedback we’d get. Early on, even though I believed in some of these initiatives, there were elements, especially as it related to culture, I let go. I wasn’t resolved enough. As I matured and brought in a team more aligned with that sort of philosophy, we finally started to push it out. And wow, my only regret was that we didn’t do it sooner. You wouldn’t believe the power of stories and passion. You open a window into the hearts and minds of your people and realize things about them that you never knew before. The organization begins to see what’s possible with unity. I was too afraid to push that out when I was younger. I resisted just making that decision and pushing the direction, vision, and intent in order to please some legacy direct reports. That was the wrong decision on my part. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Believe in yourself and trust that the Good Lord may have blessed you with some incredible gifts. Hiding those gifts is a disservice to yourself but even more so, it steals some of that from the people you lead. Embrace your strengths. Embrace your leadership. That humble confidence, or humble swagger, will lead to great decision-making ability.

I’m pumped up about your future and you should be too.