Decision making is one of the most critical responsibilities of a leader.
A lot has been written and continued to be written on different aspects of decision making, but how to control the adverse effects of a decision that goes awry has attracted less attention. We all know that nothing succeeds like success irrespective of whether it was not achieved in the right way. However, in case of a failure even the best taken decisions are derided and there are always people who are adept at finding reasons that do not by any stretch of imagination could be connected with the failure. In any case nearly half of the business decisions end in failure.It has been observed that in most of the cases where the right procedure was adopted for making the decision, the main cause of failure was some unexpected or unintended consequence of the decision that either was ruled out or ignored. Good leaders must incorporate an inbuilt mechanism to deal with failures through a well -planned implementation and continuous feedback so that the odor of failure could be deducted at the earliest stage in order to minimize loss accruing therefrom. If this procedure is adopted, then there is every chance to control the situation from going out of control.
Some do’s
A) Always be prepared to face the music and not allow the team to take success for granted. Accept that you made a wrong decision. This is the time to show your character, take it as a challenge that has to be met at any cost.
B) Be quick and proactive in dealing with the situation. There is every chance that timely action might stop the complete unraveling of the decision. Follow the Turkish proverb ““No matter how far you have gone on a wrong road, turn back.”
C) Ensure that the team understands that it is not something extraordinary that a decision has not worked. Remind the team that success is measured not by number of straight victories, but the number of setbacks overcome.
D) Before having a thorough analysis yourself try to obtain the view of those who were part of the team as well as those who were not, but knew about the decision.
E) Learn from the event and affirm to yourself that you are now wiser than before making the decision.
Some don’ts
A) No blame game, no excuses, no accusations no scapegoats. What has happened cannot be taken back.
B) Don’t lose confidence as it would affect your team’s trust in you.
C) Don’t let your team demoralized, inspire them with stories of harder setbacks overcome.
D) Don’t talk about specifics relating to anyone that did not work, always discuss the complete picture.
E) Don’t make or allow it to be made a question of ego or a conspiracy against you, team or both.
First published at peopledevelopmentmagazine.
Tasneem Hameed
