All the data is in, now it’s time to make the decision. Well all the data that is available is in. In reality, leaders need to make decisions without all the data, because it’s just not possible to acquire and analyze it all.
Sometimes, when all the data is in, it’s data overload. Consider the 80,000 pages released on a Supreme Court nominee. It’s great to have lots of information, but information overload is as much a challenge as insufficient information, when it comes to decision making.
Decision Bias
For leaders, every day requires choices, and there are plenty of ways those decisions can be adversely impacted. Those leaders engaged in planning the future know that it carries risks of uncertainty. Over estimating or under estimating risk is a key point, which clients sometimes call pessimism and optimism. It turns out that neither of those leadership styles or world views is an accurate predictor of the future. Instead, leaders must rely on information and intuition.
Some approaches recommend lumping decisions into categories. For example, a one-time high stakes decision is one category. Those are particularly challenging because prior experience can’t be brought to play. Leaders must rely on creativity, inspiration and collaboration. Other categories include one-time low stakes, and ongoing day-to-day process or decisions.
The main ingredient to quality leadership decisions, besides making lots of decisions (stay tuned for more about that) is to alter one’s perspective or what is being focused on.
There are also innate preferences for reaching closure and making a decision, or staying open to possibilities. In the Myers-Briggs personality profiles, the “closure” preference is known as Judging (making a decision and judging which way to go – I call it “J for Just do it.”) People with that preference rely on closure to create a productive course of action, and reduce overwhelm or anxiety. Those with a Perceiving preference (which I call Possibilities – continuing to perceive how else we could proceed) seek to optimize decisions by staying open, reducing the anxiety of closing in too quickly when there may be other better options. Reflecting on your own preference and trying out the opposite style is a way to examine decision making from another angle.
Reflection
Reflection is the first place to look to overcome a decision-making habit: is this a decision type that you typically avoid? Then it calls for determined attention, carving out extra time to consider the source of reluctance, and the options for addressing it. Do you tend to usually use logic, or tend to be empathic in assessing impact on others? Whatever that dominant habit, try the opposite for a fresh view.
Are you generally long term focused? Thinking of the five-year impact? Or do you tend to think about near-term monthly and quarterly impact? Whichever approach is your usual go-to, change it up for a change in perspective.
If your default is details, analysis, and spread sheets, zoom out to the 10,000 foot strategic level. If the 10,000 foot strategic level is your usual view, zoom in to the details for a new perspective. Executive coaching provides a forum for these considerations.
Change Your Focus
It turns out that merely one change can loosen up creative options and help a leader move beyond a decision impasse. Using the four lenses I outline in Zoom Leadership: Change Your Focus Change Your Insights, leaders can change their point of view to test alternatives.
Step 1 is to identify optimal outcomes, then use each lens to test the likelihood of that approach in reaching the outcome. The real goal is to introduce innovation, to allow for creative new options to emerge. As options and their likelihood arise, each can be assessed zooming in and out of the four lenses:
- Think
- Act
- Feel
- Witness
There are more complicated tools, but responsibility for the decision resides with the leader, not the tool. This approach can be used individually, or with a team. By involving others as appropriate, the leader avoids the overconfidence risk, turns to others with more expertise, and benefits from the wisdom of team members. All of this can again be done using the four lens model.
“The big difference between great leaders and good leaders,” Hubert Joly, CEO at Best Buy recently told an audience, “is not the quality of their decisions, it’s the quantity. If you make a lot of decisions, you’re going to make mistakes—but that’s OK. You can correct them because you’ll make more decisions.” [WSJ 8/11/18 The Leader of the Future.]
Make lots of leadership decisions, and be sure to challenge your decision making habits. Try a new focus, collaborate with others, challenge your decision, then trust your decision.