If you’re like most leaders, you occasionally need help to make intelligent, tough decisions. You want to do the right thing but are concerned about making a decision that could hurt good people, stunt the business, or damage your career. And yet, you don’t want to delay the decision because that conveys uncertainty, and you might miss a profitable window of opportunity, causing a lot of pressure.
Know when you’re stuck.
When talking with leaders early in the conversation, they’ll say, “… but Chris, my business is different!” This subtle sign often means they’re stuck and making excuses about it.
When I hear indecisive responses like:
“It’s complex …”
“I’m just not sure …”
“I’ve been struggling with it for a while …”
“It’s driving me crazy …”
“I can’t stand thinking about it anymore …”
“I don’t know what to do …”
I know they don’t know how to decide with clarity and certainty. They’re stuck!
You’ll be stuck until you realize you’re stuck.
After a bit of conversation, some leaders have an “a-ha!” moment. They realize that making effective decisions is as much about method as industry knowledge, experience, and leadership. Now, they are unstuck and ready to continue.
Let’s dig into the method. I’ll leave the industry knowledge and experience to you for now.
Phase one: Make a final decision.
While this seems obvious, we often forget this basic concept under pressure: when you make a final decision, everyone and everything starts moving.
Phase-One decisions ask, “What do I want to happen and why?” This is the essence of mission and purpose, the starting point of all worthwhile decisions.
You can decide by examining your desired outcome–what your team and you should do–and the motivating factors–why you and they should do it. There is no time, planning, or implementation pressure at all. Just do it!
Say aloud, “Based on what I know now, I choose to do (X), and here’s why …”
“Begun is half done.”
Then, ask yourself, “Is this my final decision?”
If you can’t say “yes,” reevaluate what you want to have happen and why because you haven’t clearly stated your desired outcome.
If you’re still afraid, remember that few choices are permanent, and you can only advance once you choose. Consider this: a competitor somewhere is facing a similar choice. The race often goes to who commits first.
Phase two: the details appear
This phase is where you plan and implement. Phase two decisions answer the “how, when, where, and with whom” questions.
You equip yourself with a mission and purpose by starting with a final decision. And, because of that, you activate The Law of Attraction: that which you choose to be aware of appears where you haven’t seen it before. You’ve experienced this when you buy a new car. You suddenly see that model everywhere because you’ve altered your subconscious to filter it in as necessary instead of filtering it out as “background noise.”
Once you decide, the resources appear.
From that choice point on, your subconscious starts screening the possibilities and options until all necessary elements for implementation appear.
You don’t even need to force it. Stay focused and committed, and the specifics will come to you. Observe, take notes, discuss, and choose from the options that come into your awareness. Give this phase some time and attention, and trust it will happen.
Deciding to make millions by ending indecision
Here’s an example of how this works:
I consulted with the COO of a medium-sized company with ten sales offices and about 650 sales agents. After a thorough business diagnosis, we found two of the ten General Sales Managers (GSMs) were hurting the company. In an industry where having mid-to-top-producing sales agents was critical for success, these two GSMs couldn’t keep them on staff.
Yet, the COO was reluctant to replace these GSMs because he was concerned about losing more sales agents, market share, revenue, and profit and destroying morale in those two offices. He also wanted to know how, when, and where he would find solid GSM replacements. These factors paralyzed his decision-making and made the solution impossible for him to conceive.
The COO was skeptical about a no-pressure way to solve his “people problems,” but he agreed to try Two-Phase Decision Making. Then, I asked him to answer two simple questions.
I asked, “What do your data and dialogue tell you to do?”
He quickly responded, “Both GSMs need to go.”
“Okay, why?”
Without hesitation, he diagnosed the situation. “They know the business, have tons of experience, and are technically sound. However, their people skills are weak, and because of that, neither of them can keep their best sales agents. As a result, the office numbers and morale keep getting worse.”
I asked him, “Is that your final decision?”
He answered, “Yes, it is.” This triggered a new perspective and understanding. He was motivated by his newfound clarity after struggling with the decision for two years, and he replaced both GSMs within 90 days. The results: the two replacement GSMs emerged quickly and were outstanding performers, and neither office lost a single sales agent during the transition. Not one!
The COO proudly said three years later, “Chris, our entire management team uses this approach. It has made us millions in profit and saved us boatloads of time! And it has lifted leadership morale big-time.”
The story’s moral is that fast final decisions enhance the effectiveness and credibility of every leader. They’re a “must-have” because everything depends on them: sales, profit, and morale.
Make your final decision.
Good news: You can become much more successful using two-phase decision-making because your subconscious stimulates The Law of Attraction, which does all the heavy lifting. Based on my studies and experiences, the sooner you make phase-one decisions, the sooner the insights and conditions appear to make phase-two decisions. And the quicker you get results.
So, make a choice now!