The one thing for sure that I have learned from 35 years in business, is that if you want to get better outcomes, you just need to make better decisions!
Sounds sensible, maybe even simple, but you would be surprised just how difficult so many owners make it for themselves.
One of the mistakes I see so often in smaller companies is when decisions are by consensus. Now I am not for one second suggesting that including your team is not advantageous, or getting input from others is not helpful, but when it comes to making that decision, it is your decision to make and to take responsibility for the consequences of that decision, good or bad.
Leadership is about taking responsibility. Decisions made by committee are rarely the best.
If you are developing a management or leadership team then you also want them to take the same level of responsibility. In owner / operator businesses, all too often I see managers seeking approval for decisions from you, the owner.
For some personalities, especially those who struggle to delegate or are fearful of what they see as “giving up control” this appears to be good, but ask yourself how sustainable is that leadership team, and therefore the business, if all decisions have to come through you?
Owning a small business can be a daily onslaught of challenges and it is natural that we assume therefore that decisions need to always be made quickly. This is not the case and I can tell you from my experience, that the fast decision is often a knee jerk reaction, rather than a considered response. A response is always better than a reaction.
Give yourself the time and space to address the issue and think through the options.
It is perfectly OK to tell someone that you need some time to think about any issue and will get back to them with the response / decision. Ideally put a time frame on that, and of course make sure you hit that deadline.
At this point however, it is also important to mention that taking too long is also not good for your people and your business. Procrastination is not a leadership quality that will endear support or loyalty.
One of the many benefits owning a business today gives us over when I started, is the proliferation of data. There are so many ways to measure what you are doing and to obtain scenario data about where any given decision may take you and your business.
It is foolish not to take advantage of the data that is available to you and where you can, make data based decisions. Not only are these decisions often more considered decisions, but they can also take the emotion out of any decisions.
When you are faced with a tough decision, ask yourself where this sits against our values, be they personal or business.
If the consequence of your decision in any way acts in contradiction to those values then it is highly likely that this is not the right decision for you and your business.
If you are true to your values, and base decision making on those values, it acts as a compass to guide you to the best outcome.
Finally, decisions aren’t easy, many are tough and can have significant and long lasting consequences for you, your people and your business, but ignoring, procrastinating or just taking the easy option, I can guarantee will come back to haunt you.
Be brave in your decision making and be confident that you have made the best decision at this time given the information available to you.
