“ Real courage is making a decision and sticking to it, doing what needs to be done.”
~ John Wayne
The weight of the decision
Everyone is looking at you, you feel your body temperature rising, you are sweating and your vision is blurred. You hesitate to speak and have difficulty structuring your thoughts.
In short, stress has taken hold of you. You know that there is no one behind you to take over and that it is your responsibility.
Fear of making mistakes
It happens to all of us, in extreme circumstances, to experience this series of events when we are faced with a situation requiring us to make a decision for the whole team.
Taking responsibility for your decisions
It’s really unpleasant and we would like to find a way to either avoid the situation or ask our boss to choose for us, because we are overcome with a fear of making the wrong decision.
This is the price you pay when you are a leader or team manager and it is the first responsibility that is on your job description. As I have often mentioned in my other articles, the worst decision you can make is not to make any decisions. When you make the right decision, everyone is happy and you receive praise from the group. When you make the wrong decision, there can be negative effects that affect the outcome or temporarily decrease the group’s confidence in your decision-making ability.
Learn from your mistakes
It is impossible to always make the right decision and those who tell you otherwise are probably people who make few or no decisions. It is difficult to make a mistake when we never decide anything.
The only way to move forward is to admit your wrongdoing and take back control of the situation. Taking ownership of your decisions will increase your credibility and the respect of your team members.
The most important thing is to learn from your decision and not repeat it again.
The art of making quick decisions
It is not easy to make decisions when we do not have all the information and do not know the consequences of each choice.
This is often the case in team management, so the leader must have good analytical skills and be able to plug the gaps (missing information) and make the best possible decision quickly in order to move projects forward, resolve problems and avoid stagnation.
Indecision can lead to delays, missed opportunities, conflicts and wasted resources.
Involve the team in decision making
Employees want to receive solutions to their problems and know in which direction they are going. A boss who takes the time to analyze in detail all possible avenues and who delays decision-making creates uncertainty and impatience in his team.
As a team manager, you are accountable for everything that happens in your department or during your shift. This does not mean that you have to make all the decisions and micromanage every situation.
A good way to avoid mistakes is to involve the brains and knowledge of your team members. Certainly, some decisions will remain yours (stopping a production line, changing priorities, giving disciplinary action, recognizing a good deed or delegating responsibility), but there are many benefits to equipping your employees to make decisions related to their responsibilities.
Concrete example of transfer of responsibility
It is common for employees to ask for confirmation from the boss before performing an action that they have done many times and for which they have much greater expertise than the manager. This may be because it is the procedure or to shift responsibility to the boss.
A procedure can be changed, but the time wasted waiting for you is lost forever. Since your time is very valuable and you have a large amount of responsibilities, it will be important to transfer routine decision-making to the process owner.
For two years, I was in charge of the employee responsible for the treatment of wastewater from the company I worked for. I had no knowledge, and to this day still have no knowledge, of how to operate the various equipment in the treatment plant.
The station was operated for about 18 hours a day, and when the water level exceeded a critical threshold during the night, the security guard would call me so that I would always make the same decision: authorize the guard to contact my employee so that he could come and resolve the situation.
I found it painful, because being woken up in the middle of the night and kicked by my wife is not my favorite pastime. But the hardest part was that my involvement in the process was pointless.
The agent knew what he had to do, but I had to give permission. I was just starting out in management and I lacked the courage so I didn’t make the decision to change the process. As mentioned before, not making a decision to change the situation was the worst decision.
This is just an example of a situation where the manager should be removed from the process, but I’m sure you’ve all been in similar situations. It’s not always easy to change things, but be courageous and go for it.
The power of decision transfer
If you want to read a book or watch a YouTube video on the power of turning decision-making around, I suggest the journey of David Marquet, a former submarine captain in the US Navy (turn the ship around).
One of my bosses showed me the video and I found the approach so powerful that I subsequently showed it to my employees to explain the incredible impact on team results that transferring decision-making to the process owner could have.
If this is possible in a military context where normally every decision must be confirmed by a person in authority, what prevents the process from being used in our companies for the management of our teams?
Since this is an unusual approach, it is quite possible that you will also have to explain the approach to your bosses to avoid unpleasant surprises if they decide to go on the floor and are surprised by the changes you have implemented.
The worst thing for the credibility of managers and the management team is to expose an inconsistency in management philosophy. This will have a devastating impact on your future actions and results.
Transferring decision-making empowers employees, engages their creativity and knowledge, mobilizes them, and reduces your mental load. You are still accountable for the end result, but decision-making support could limit the extreme stress situations mentioned at the beginning of the article. You have nothing to lose by trying it!
In short, decision-making is a key skill for moving forward, adapting to changes, and successfully achieving goals, both personal and professional.
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Need help improving your leadership skills or building a culture of compassionate leadership? Don’t hesitate to contact me. I’ll be happy to listen and provide you with the tools you need for the future.
Never forget: how does your mood impact your performance and overall attitude? Imagine if all your employees or co-workers were happy…
Carl-Michael Tessier
Coach in high-performance team development and tailor-made support
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