I recently facilitated a manager leadership workshop in Toronto. I love this environment. I also love to provoke learning. I have a trademark or two in sessions. One is to pose “what if” questions. An example would be “What if you have a sales rep who is late twice in two weeks without an excuse. You talk to them and they are on time for about 3 months. Then they are 30 minutes late again without excuse. What do you do?” While I do have some ‘keeners’ who immediately speak up or raise their hand, the majority just stare back at me as if to suggest, “this is a trick question, right?”
Managers face a variety of management and leadership situations in every given day. And in each, they must make decisions. They must explore, define, propose, choose, settle, determine, conclude and even resolve the situation. Some are cut and dry and others have insufficient data. Some test confidence. Some are the difference between maintaining trust or breaking it.
When managers face these decisions, they may vacillate.
Vacillate ˈva-sə-ˌlāt : to waver in mind, will, or feeling; to hesitate in choice of opinions or courses.
Synonyms: dither, falter, hang back, shilly-shally, teeter, waver or wobble (also wabble).
Been there. Although I do not think I have ever knowingly shilly-shallied. You don’t have to be a newly tenured manager to be in this situation…a situation where you second-guess or struggle with “the” decision. We get that in all aspects of life. So what to do? What about these considerations?
- When making a decision remember that you are simply choosing from among alternatives. You are not making a choice between (absolute) right and wrong.
- To be effective, a manager must have the luxury that being wrong is OK.
- Consider those affected by your decision. Whenever feasible, get them involved to share perspective and even increase their commitment.
- Make decisions as you go along. Do not let them accumulate. A backlog of many little decisions could be harder to deal with than one big and complex decision.
- Trust yourself to make a decision and then to be able to accept the consequences appropriately.
- Never regret a decision. It was the right thing to do at the time. Now focus on what is right at this time.
- Remember that not making a decision is a decision…to take no action.
Sometimes, if I don’t have the information or the resource or person to clarify the information, I just go by my gut. Another may call this common sense or intuition. This is about confidence. A decision to be the manager and leader. Remember, you were promoted because someone saw in the you the ability to get things done through others. They trust you. They believe you can do the job. Do you have the same belief to wrap around your own talent? It isn’t a trick question. Oh yeah, the other one wasn’t either.