Hasty Decisions and Undesirable consequences- “How do you as a leader see this being accountable”

“Every decision you make reflects your evaluation of who you are.”– Marianne Williamson?

If you have employees making snap decisions without collaboration or input from other team members, you could be losing money before you know it every day. According to reports in published Reviews, companies lose a significant amount of income and brand positioning when executives, managers, and employees make snap decisions without giving thought to the consequences of their actions, or because?they work in a company culture?that encourages instant decision making. Making decisions is often a struggle, especially when they are important, and information is not available or is incomplete. Even so, we make a lot of decisions. According to academic studies, the average person makes upwards of 2,000 decisions per hour. However, not all of these 2,000 decisions need thorough deliberation. Discussions only occur when complex issues have a significant impact on the present or the future. Employees are growing noticeably more frustrated with their leaders.?Employees want their leaders to have their backs and listen to their concerns; to provide clarity of purpose and performance expectations; and to chart a roadmap for the future. They expect leadership from their leaders but instead many employees are finding themselves being led by people that lack focus and vision, mismanage resources, and get caught-up in corporate politics. Leaders need to step up their game and begin to provide the required strategic support and direction to keep their?employees motivated?and their?teams inspired.

In business,?strategic decision making?affects the company at all levels. That is why leaders constantly strive to make the best assumptions and choices, and why it is a large part of their core job. However, on a day-to-day basis, decision makers face a number of obstacles that make this task extremely difficult. As a result, in this increasingly complex world there is often a lack of clarity in problem-solving and decision-making, and bad decisions are made. Performance management in this environment is difficult for managers because many of these quick decision makers are often the some of the most dedicated and motivated people in a company. The last thing you want to do is stifle their dedication. However, when they are making poor decisions because they believe fast action benefits the business operations, you can’t let this go unchecked. You need to explain that real accomplishment occurs because of collaboration with co-workers, not snap-judgments. Leadership is not for everyone and this quickly becomes evident when leaders make bad decisions. Unfortunately, many organizations promote people into leadership positions where they don’t really belong or the wrong reasons. Employees can sense this. They know when someone is not ready for leadership responsibilities and increased levels of accountability.? Employees are aware of those that assume the role of “corporate watchdog” to assure the workplace culture that is being dictated from the top is being adhered too, versus action-oriented leaders with real authority. The best way to deal with the situation is, Firstly address it at an organizational level. Does your company encourage, either formally or informally, urgency and fast decision making? If so, what is the underlying motivation for this climate? Is it essential? Subsequently you should identify and work with those employees who make decisions without considering the residual impact. Does your company reward urgent behavior? Do you give out early completion awards or bonuses, or equate fast decisions with excellent or useful choices? If so, you could be fostering a belief in your staff that you want things “done right now,” consequences being adverse.

“Truly successful decision-making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking.”– Malcolm Gladwel

Bad decisions are a widespread phenomenon in organizations and their consequences are obvious. Some key reasons for bad decisions in business, described here in the hope that it enables leaders to make?better decisions?. Because, as Albert Einstein explained, "If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions." Understanding the reasons behind a problem is often the most important step towards solving it. Decisions are the result of many processes that must fit together as efficiently as possible. There are, however, factors that prevent this from happening. Let's look at the main reasons that lead to bad decisions. The steps that advance strategic initiatives,?problem solving?, and the development of new approaches require a high level of concentration. However, decision makers have to fulfil a range of responsibilities simultaneously. The paradox is obvious with an overwhelming number of tasks, the potential for reaching the desired quality in each diminishes. Employees are inspired when their leaders are empowered to make good, thoughtful and smart decisions. They respect leaders taking calculated risks, not those merely serving as another layer of management, an additional “go-between” that stunts growth and opportunity. Furthermore, when leaders make bad decisions, their employees begin to lose confidence in them and trust decreases, especially when their poor decision-making patterns don’t change. There are commonly seen leaders “played the part”, but didn’t trust himself enough to serve in the role of a leader you could consistently rely upon. This person spent a lot of time observing what the more experienced leaders did in the organization, mimicking their ways and styles. You could see these during meetings, even when the other leaders were not in the room. These personnel didn’t appear to be a natural leaders and had a difficult time establishing their own identity and leadership credibility.

Just like diluted information flows, insufficient information also leads to bad decisions. This occurs when only part of the information is available to validate decisions, even when the executive assistant, who has an important support role in the decision-making process, has done an excellent job in preparing the necessary resources. When this happens, the available material is often incomplete, inefficiently presented, or poorly organized. In this situation, decision makers find it difficult to follow up on past decisions, and therefore risk duplicating effort when deliberating the matter at hand. This wastes time, increases stress levels, and only contributes further to the vicious circle of bad decisions. Tracking past decisions is a major problem in effective?meeting preparation?and decision making. Employee performance improvements are hard enough for regular employees. When you need to address performance issues for employees who are enthusiastic and motivated, they can become dreadful. You have to walk a fine line between praising the employee for their decisiveness and for taking the initiative, but you also have to educate them about the long-term and far-reaching aftermath of poor decisions. If you find yourself in the position of having to help an employee who makes rash decisions, it is paramount to spend valuable time to redirect their thinking. When you don’t know what you stand for, it becomes more difficult to make good decisions.? ?Much like falling into the trap of corporate politics, when you “feel in your gut” that you have lost touch with your core values and believe they no longer align with your senior leadership team – you begin to make bad decisions. Clarity of purpose allows you to make decisions that are true and consistent with the mission at hand.? When purpose becomes disrupted, you lose touch with your instincts and begin to make decisions without the right dependencies and resources you need to make sound decisions. Encourage teamwork and collaboration when making decisions. Emphasize the fact that involving other people not only leads to better decisions, but it also gives people a better impression of the employee. Their peers see their ability to collaborate as a benefit, not a sign of weakness. Explain that their decisions potentially affect a lot of people at the company, and even the relationships with clients. Highlight the impact of prior decisions, both good and bad ones. Seeing the results of previous decisions lets them learn.

The more stressful circumstances are, the more a leader can benefit from a wide range of options to choose from. Reverting to extremes may create a false sense of comfort in the moment but set up disaster in the end. There are no complex challenges in the world for which there are only?two?possible solutions. The minute you find yourself torn between two extremes, assume that both are limited, step back, and build a broader menu of options. That’s where you’re likely to find your optimal choice. When these decisions are made hastily, without due diligence, they can have far-reaching consequences and impact on Team Dynamics. The bottom line is again that states, ‘bad and hasty decisions can be extremely costly and even would be the end of the road in some circumstances’, thus it’s always best to toe a line that’s well thought of and is not compromising to a greater part of the bigger picture. We live in a society that lionizes decisive leaders and denigrates those that are perceived as indecisive. This is a burden that leaders must bear. But prudence and wisdom demand that leaders keep forces in reserve and maintain their freedom of action and decision capital so they can act decisively at appropriate times, or recover from mistakes gracefully.

“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”– Napoleon Bonaparte