Decisive leaders are valued.  

They make decisions and go with it, and seemingly never look back.  How often have you heard from colleagues about the manager who can’t make a decision?  They simply don’t decide, and won’t commit to when or even if they will decide. It’s super frustrating isn’t it?

We love decisive leaders.  

We follow decisive leaders, even if we grumble about the decision, we follow.  There’s something about feeling like the decisive leader is in control, knows what they are doing.  It’s reassuring, comforting and makes us feel secure. Indecisiveness doesn’t leave us feeling this way.    

Decisive leaders are recognized and rewarded with bigger projects, new opportunities and promotions more often their counterparts who aren’t decisive.  Organizations and people gravitate to the decisive leader. They are like the Pied Piper or Moses parting the Red Sea. Their confidence is reassuring and contagious.

However, the decisive leader can be just as much of a challenge as the leader who can’t or won’t decide. How is that possible?

I often say that our greatest gifts, when the volume gets turned up too high, can become our weakness.  The gift of being able, and willing to make decisions is wonderful. AND what often happens with decisive leaders is they don’t listen.  They don’t listen to their gut and don’t listen to others.

Arrogance, self-confidence, willing to take risks…those characteristics kick in and have the leader make a decision, and they don’t slow down enough to listen.

Listening requires being present, paying attention, quieting our minds from the noise and a sincere desire to hear and understand. This that takes time, and patience.  Decisive leaders ignore this step way too often and the consequence can be they miss a key point that could change the decision..

Case in point.

A client had a key person resign.  He decided to make a counter offer so they would stay.  Decisive…yes! Here’s what he missed though because he didn’t listen long enough to his gut and others before deciding.  

• Intellectually he knew that in most situations counter offers don’t work.  Statistically over 90% of those who accept a counteroffer leave within six months anyhow.
• He ignored the gossip that developed and the impact it had on morale.
• While this person had been a key player they were frankly a pain in the butt to work with and caused problems he didn’t take into consideration.
• His senior team had a plan as to how to handle the responsibilities of this person without them, thus saving him a boatload of money, but he wouldn’t listen.

His decisiveness cost him money.  About four months later the employee left anyhow, and he had lost the good will of his senior team.

All leaders, but especially decisive leaders need to learn to slow down before pulling the trigger on making a decision.  Stop and ask yourself what your gut is saying and take the time to listen. Be willing to listen to others. Worse case you took extra time and come to the same decision anyhow.  But what if you learn something along the way that changes the decision or something about the decision that could impact time, money, morale, productivity and more?

Not all decisions have to be made immediately.  What can you put off for a few days or a few weeks that truly don’t have to be handled right now?  What might you learn that would impact your decision if deciding now wasn’t the requirement?

There is a balance between being decisive and being too quick to be decisive.  

At least slow down enough to ask yourself “what am I ignoring, what do I not know, who else might have thoughts about this decision I should tap into or what do I need to know in order to make the decision well”?  

You’ll be surprised at what you discover.