Making Good Decisions as a Leader

The New York Times' weekly Corner Office feature provides insights from interviews with CEOs, and recently included a conversation with Tracy Streckenbach, President and Chief Operating Officer of Innovative Global Brands. The conversation included thoughts and experiences on company culture with specific reflections on leadership decision making practices

It could be because of the work that I do, but when senior leaders get scared because their company is not doing well, they tend not to share decision-making. They are very reactive to the latest feedback, so they tell everyone to all of a sudden focus on this, and then the next month it’s something totally different.

You start out in leadership roles thinking that it's really important to be right. You want to be smart. As you evolve, you realise that you need to be open to feedback. I've learned to shift from focusing on being smart to knowing what I know and knowing what I don't know, and when I need to rely on other people. At the same time though there can be a slippery slope in the decision-making process. I say to my team alot - and they often don't like it - that teams provide input and individuals make decisions. If you have a team making a decision, then you end up with mediocrity. It doesn't mean that I'm always making the decision. But if a team recommends a solution, I want one person who's going to make that decision with the input of the team. 

Considering each of these outcomes, one can see how they align with the work FranklinCovey does to enable effective decision making at a number of levels, for example

• In our work to support effective individuals and teams we help leaders to place a greater gap between any given stimulus and their response, so they end up being less reactive to events. We also help them appreciate diverse inputs as the foundation for effective decision making and improve the communication skills with which they can gather these inputs. 
• Within our leadership curricula, we work specifically to help leaders avoid the extremes of being a 'lone genius' or an 'opinion poller' when it comes to making decisions, providing instead frameworks which allow them to combine rigorous personal through with group input. 
• At an organisational level, we also help leaders narrow their focus on what their, and the organisation's priorities should be, and then share insight on how they can translate these priorities down to the front line in a manner that increases engagement at all levels.

While all of these levels are important, Tracy Streckenbach reinforces the value of a leader making good decisions on organisational priorities in these comments.

It sounds easy and simple, but it's not. In my current company, it probably took me six months to clearly define the right goals and how to measure them. It's also devastating if you get them wrong, because then you're encouraging the wrong behaviours. But once you get it right, you see the changes in people. They want to get the job done and not just put in the time.