A difficulty in becoming decisive as a leader can oftentimes be traced to the ordering of the components within a leader’s decision process.  In most cases a person orders the decision process as  WAIT .  .  . DECIDE . . . IMPLEMENT.

In that ordering of the components, procrastination can often take over – creating paralysis through analysis in the life of the leader.

A wiser leader knows that trying to make a decision while sitting still is very difficult.  Consequently a mature leader waits only long enough to make sure all six decision centers have spoken (see the post entitled Six Decision Centers for more information on this subject) before making a decision and then moving slowly in the direction of the decision s/he’s made.  By moving slowly during this “waiting” period after making the decision has been made, the wisdom or lack of wisdom surrounding the decision most of the time becomes apparent.

Only after this period of slowly moving in the direction of the decision validates the decision, does the leader then pull the trigger on the decision – implementing it fully.  Otherwise the leader backtracks on the initial decision without ultimately pulling the trigger.

Re-ordering the components of the decision-making process oftentimes causes an individual to find his/her decisiveness.

Categories: Decisiveness