In today’s volatile and highly competitive business environment, the risks of poor decision making are greater than ever. Business leaders must make the right judgments about market direction, the competitive landscape, and investments in products, technologies and people to survive. When decisions are made without a proper understanding of the risks, potential obstacles and underlying assumptions, the bottom-line costs can be tremendous. While difficult to determine an exact dollar value, consider the wider impact of poor decision making –
- That jeopardize your reputation with customers;
- The cost of missed opportunities when no (or delayed) decision-making occurs, hoping the human talent you have will eventually get better;
- The cost of misusing the limited human resources that exist by misplacing responsibility and accountability with under-qualified or under-performing staff.
Strong leaders not only make better decisions themselves, but also help attract other high-performing team members that think and act decisively. Together, these talented people demand the best from each other and improve overall decision making.
The more talented people you have on your team, the more (and better) talent you attract and retain. When teams have the right match of talent to business needs, there can be amazing results. Good judgment, objective decision making, and consistent action leads to exceptional results. A team of high performers who are clear about the company’s vision and direction create energy and the belief that there is nothing they can’t accomplish. By contrast, ignoring talent deficiencies in your team drains energy, negatively impacts productivity, creates a lack of respect in leadership capabilities, and often results in high performers leaving for better opportunities.
Decisive leaders are clear about the knowledge, skills and abilities that they need, and are always assessing the talent they have, making course corrections and filling the gaps to maintain a consistent level of high performance. If you don’t take the time and effort to make good decisions, you will always be catching your breath, and always chasing instead of leading the competition.