Be decisive, but know that it is never too late to admit when you've made a bad decision and apologize for it.
If you are the parent, boss, head volunteer, or a person in any other leadership role, your main job is to make effective decisions that set the course for the group that trusts you. Such decisions require thoughtfulness and consultation, lest you become an irrational dictator. Hastiness and stubbornness would be unfortunate uses of the power granted to you. The flip side of that coin, however, is that taking too long to make a decision equates to missing an opportunity. People are going to make your decisions for you if you don’t step up. So after the appropriate input, be decisive, and show people why this decision is going to benefit both the group and each member individually. Then equip your people with the tools they need to carry out the mission.
If you are the parent, boss, head volunteer, or a person in any other leadership role, your main job is to make effective decisions that set the course for the group that trusts you. Such decisions require thoughtfulness and consultation, lest you become an irrational dictator. Hastiness and stubbornness would be unfortunate uses of the power granted to you. The flip side of that coin, however, is that taking too long to make a decision equates to missing an opportunity. People are going to make your decisions for you if you don’t step up. So after the appropriate input, be decisive, and show people why this decision is going to benefit both the group and each member individually. Then equip your people with the tools they need to carry out the mission.
My real life example is that we recently started dish team. The kids have always had to take their dirty
dishes to the sink, but it was time to teach them how to carry out the entire
process. We needed to do this now while
everyone was still young enough to be eager to help. Waiting might lead to the impression that
dishes magically wash themselves, and to the decision by default that only the
grownups can do dishes. So after a few days of practice and juggling of roles based on the kids’ heights and
abilities, we now have a three member dish team knocking out a daily chore in
record time.
What if this decision to delegate dish duty at this time had
failed? What if every meal ended with
broken dishes? What if we never had
enough clean dishes for the next meal?
Then it would have been our responsibility as leaders to be willing to
change course (no matter how invested), to revise the plan, to apologize for
the mistake or poor timing. A leader
without humility will fail, and bring the team crashing down at the same time.
“The chief executive who knows his strengths and weaknesses
as a leader is likely to be far more effective than the one who remains blind
to them. He also is on the road to
humility, that priceless attitude of openness to life that can help a manager
absorb mistakes, failures, or personal shortcomings.” – John Adair
More of my rules to
come…
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