7-14-10 On Being Decisive

One of the execution skills in the Executive Skills/Traits model involves being decisive (12-30-09 Morphing to a Model and 1-13-10 Execution Skills -- Now go DO something!).

One of my survey participants had an interesting take on this skill. He said, “Many/most times decisions are elevated due to lack of a clear cut ‘answer‘. Being able to listen to opposing arguments and make a decision is critical to exec leadership. If it was easy, the team would have already decided.”

If you haven’t figured it out yet, being an executive ain’t easy.

As an executive, you no longer get to make the easy decisions -- if you’ve delegated appropriately. The easy decisions are made by your staff or your managers. That means you get stuck with the hard decisions.

And as my survey participant indicated, in order to make those hard decisions you have to weigh the information and the opposing arguments. Fairly and impartially. The “fair” part is easy for most executives. The “impartial” part usually isn’t.

Why? Because we all have a past or history. And that can impact our analysis and decision-making. In order to be a successful executive, you have to recognize your past and your biases -- then to the extent possible, leave them behind. And if you can’t, you at least need to factor them in to your decision-making process.

Of course, once the decision is made, then it has to be implemented. But that’s another post……

Cheers!