Be Decisive – Make The Tough Call When It Needs To Be Made

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“If you’re not sure, you’re sure”. It’s pretty good life advice, but it’s great leadership advice…especially if you’re thinking about the talent in your organization. If you’re not sure that person should get promoted, you’re sure. If you’re not sure you should hire that candidate, you’re sure. You can’t create a culture that people want to be a part of…a workplace where Monday morning doesn’t suck if you have bad leaders.

A bad leader will never create a good culture.

Great leaders make the tough call when the tough call needs to be made. And it’s not always about talent. If your team is waiting on you to decide, be decisive. It’s really frustrating when you’re a high performer, and your work has stopped because you need your leader to decide, and they haven’t yet. Do your leaders ever say things like “Let me look into that”, or “I’ll get back to you on that”. Do they look into it? Do they get back to you? Are they decisive and do they keep moving things forward because they’re decisive and can make a tough call if it needs to be made?

If it’s broke, fix it. The team is waiting for you to fix it. I have supported so many leaders who get paralyzed when they need to make a big decision, but they never make it. Unfortunately, those same leaders don’t appreciate how frustrating it is, especially for the high performers in the organization, when progress is stalled due to an inability to decide. Other than having to work with a poor performing employee every day, this might be the most frustrating thing for your high performers.

If you’re a leader who struggles with this, find someone who can help. Maybe your boss can provide direction and guidance. Maybe one of your high potential employees would love a chance to be the decision maker – especially if it’s going to help the team move forward. Great leaders don’t have all the answers. That’s what makes them great. They know they don’t have all the answers, can’t make all the decisions, and can’t be the only one running the department.

It’s okay to ask for help.

First featured on Forbes.com

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