I’ve never met a leader who told me, “I REALLY want to screw this next big decision up! Seriously, I want to make a mistake that really does hurt people!” And yet we as leaders sometimes do.
As a leader, I’ve made some right decisions and some wrong ones…and as I’ve reflected on the ones I’ve made that are wrong, there are some things that those wrong decisions have in common.
I made the wrong decision when…
#1 – I Stopped the Conflict in the Room
Every team has healthy conflict, you know, when two people can disagree about a decision without the relationship being ended.
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One of the good things (and bad things) about leaders is that we love to fix things, and so often times when good conflict is taking place, we will jump in and settle the argument and stop the conflict.
AND…when we do what we believe is good, the opposite is quite true. Healthy conflict will often lead to great decisions!
#2 – I Was More Passionate About Getting Through My Meeting Agenda than Making the Best Decision
I have a list of things I want to accomplish in a meeting, and often times, I have felt we were not making progress and, because I feared that we were not going to get through all we had planned, would jump in and begin to make really quick decisions.
During a meeting, THE single most important issue is the one that is on the table being discussed…NOT the next item on your list. If every item does not have the full attention of everyone at the meeting, then some people simply do not need to be at the meeting.
