RESQBug.com – Geek Speak to English

Welcome to part three of this 11 part article series.

In Part 1 we introduced the series and if you missed it, you can read the article by clicking here.  In Part 2 we dived into the first of ten principles of leadership.
Alas, we took a long hiatus after Part 2, but we’re happy to be back to get the ball rolling on Part 3.

As the third installment in this series, I’d like to explore the second Principle of Leadership, Make Sound and Timely Decisions.

Like most of the concepts presented in this series, the premise behind this principle of leadership is simple but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to duplicate.
Let’s start by breaking this concept into two parts.  Make sound decisions, and make timely decisions.

To make sound decisions try to base your decisions on fact rather than assumption, emotion or hear-say, and approach your decision logically.  If you hear the boss is planning a mass firing for anyone that doesn’t wear purple to the office you may want to consider validating the rumour before acting on it.  Likewise, if you receive an email that tells you to forward the email to 100 people in 4.2 seconds to receive $500 dollars from some large corporation, take the time to validate the claim before acting on it and making yourself look foolish.

While all decisions are not this straight forward, the key here is to not take things for granted.  Take the time to ask question to figure out if all the facts line up or are logical before deciding how to proceed.

To make timely decisions is a bit trickier.  Understand that timely does not always mean immediately.  For example, if you are planning a dinner party, it is timely to decide what to serve before you go grocery shopping.  It does not mean that you must decide on your menu the moment you choose the event date.  Timely can therefore be defined as the most opportune or logical time to make a decision.  And yes, there will be instances where timely does mean immediate.

Often making a decision too early or too late will negatively affect the outcome.  Using our dinner event as an example again, choosing your menu before you know who is coming and their possible dietary restrictions, is a futile exercise.  Likewise, if your menu contains exotic or hard-to-find ingredients, then finalizing your menu too late may limit your options based on availability.

In other words, making timely decisions can sometimes be linked to making decisions in the right sequence.  Making a decision before you have the necessary facts can you leave you guessing; making a decision too late will often limit your options.

Many people will struggle to make a decision when they are not ready to tackle the consequences of their decision and so they put it off.  Some people simply procrastinate.  If you struggle with making decisions consider mapping out the steps that would follow your various options.  If you have a plan outlined to support each of your possible decisions, it will make it easier to decide.  It is also important to ask for help when making decisions in areas you are weak in.  Just like you would not choose how to invest your money without properly researching it yourself or consulting a professional for his or her advice, it makes no sense to make other decisions without any facts or advice.

There are many books out there that speak to the effectiveness of making decisions promptly, the most famous of which is Blink.  There are many theorists that believe a bad decision quickly is better than a good decision that comes too late. I tend to agree, however, it is important to make good decisions quickly if at all possible.

Here’s hoping all your decision making is timely, logical and end in successful results.

Cheers,
e.