How To Successfully Make Decisions

Posted by Michael

“The best companies don’t necessarily make right decisions all of the time, but they make clear decisions and get people rallied around them.”
                                                                -Patrick Lencioni

Whether you are running a company, your family, or just your own life, clarity makes all of the difference in the world. Clarity gives direction and relieves stress. It’s impossible to make the right decisions all of the time, which leaves us with two options: 1) Delay or make hazy/half-way decisions to avoid being wrong or 2) Make clear, honest decisions and give yourself the chance to be right. Bad decisions aren’t what normally derail us, it’s the lack of a decision that will bump us off the tracks. A couple of things to consider as you face the decisions in front of you:

Face your decisions one at a time

I know that you have a millions decisions and they all feel like they have to be made today, but you need to step back, take a deep breath, and say these words with me: “it’s not going to happen.”…at least not at this moment. What you can do this moment is make one decision. You can tackle one thing right now and put it behind you. That’s progress and that’s how mountains get moved, one rock at a time.

Remember that bad decisions are not the end.

Bad decisions are not fun. They have consequences for us, and oftentimes for the people we love. We want to make the best decisions we can, but we will never be perfect. Our destiny of imperfection is not a reason to avoid making decisions however. Making a bad decision isn’t the end of the road, no matter how painful it feels. We when find ourselves in a bad place, cursing ourselves for going left when we should have turned right, we simply need to stop, take a look at the landscape and make a new decision. Step by step we can get back to the direction we want to go in, and usually find something unexpected and good along the way. Most of the amazing discoveries in history have come on the coattails of a bad decision or misstep.

People don’t rally around perfection. They are drawn to authenticity and humility. So, make your decisions, and if they blow up, make some more. Make them the best you can, but make them regardless, you’ll find courage and increased confidence as you go.

Quotation from Patrick Lencioni's The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family: A Leadership Fable About Restoring Sanity To The Most Important Organization In Your Life.