The Most Overlooked Leadership Skill

We can all get caught up and stuck in doing what we’ve always done. Whatever it is, becomes common and familiar to the point of automation. It doesn’t occur to us to consider anything different - even if to others that "different" might be obvious.

The other day I had an “ah ha” moment about this very thing.

I was writing about my new Masterclass (the focus of which is helping folks make better talent/people management decisions). As I was writing, I began to realize that this very function - decision making - is at the very heart of anything related to leadership and management.

So what was the “ah ha”? Well, it’s common in our industry to approach leadership and management training from a broad, generic perspective… meaning almost any “training” covers several topics. Or, there is the expectation that multiple skills are to be developed… virtually all at once - which is pretty unrealistic.

Rather, would it be better to focus on developing one essential skill at a time - over a period of time? Even to the point of mastery?

I’m sure you’ll agree, like communicating better or managing time (essential skills for sure), decision-making should be one too.

Interestingly, developing one skill at a time is not new.  There’s already an example - Peter Drucker - a well-known management guru of the early 80s, introduced the concept and focus of being effective via the book The Effective Executive. He even went as far as to suggest that this leadership capability was so essential, that even if you focused on developing other admirable qualities, you could still be rendered ineffective, so what would be the point?

Consider that same premise for decision-making. You can have a well-liked boss, empathetic, and approachable (all admirable qualities) and still be a terrible, costly decision-maker.

As I thought more about decision-making and the role it plays, it occurred to me this absolutely does deserve primary, priority attention for any leadership or management training - and would even be of advantage as a stand-alone offering.

Every result is derived from a decision and each has - to vary degrees - a direct financial impact and yet, it’s given little attention if any.

For example, have you ever - as a leader - paid close, intentional attention to the financial impact of your decisions over a period of time…or of those you lead? Have you conducted a decision-making audit of sorts? What would that look like?

Decisions play a front and center role in anything we want in life - personally and professionally - and therefore should be treated accordingly.

Recommended Actions:

1. Track your decisions for a week - attach cost or value to it.
2. If you know it would be to your advantage to improve how you make people management decisions, consider enrolling in the Make Your Case Masterclass.