It’s judgement day, so trust your instincts

Do you know what can really slash productivity in your business? Let me get back to you on that one.

Do you know the one thing that can really slow down your work processes? Let me think about that.

Have you ever thought about the phrases that can stop momentum dead in its tracks? I’m still thinking about it.

And you know the one thing that can drive your staff, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders nuts? I’m still considering that one – I’ll get back to you next week!

Yes, my dear reader, one of the unfortunate traits that can be found in a leader, or an aspiring leader, is the failure to trust his or her own judgement.

This lack of self-confidence leads them to put off essential decisions while they procrastinate, the whole time double and triple guessing their own choices.

In life, there’s one thing that’s worse than a bad decision, and that’s a decision that took three months to make and still turned out wrong.

So what do you do when you’re faced with a choice? When you need to decide between – say – a blue design and a purple one?

First, listen through all the relevant information. Impartially.

At this point, it’s important to stress that Old Taskmaster is not saying you shouldn’t give really important matters due consideration. But in business, not everything is critically important. And everything has a point where a decision ultimately needs to be made.

So go with your gut instinct. If your gut says purple, then go with purple.

If you have no firm instinctive reaction, rationally weigh up the evidence. If the evidence says go with blue, then go with blue.

If you have neither an instinctive nor an intellectual reason to make a choice, yet a member of your team or an employee has a strong preference, then delegate the decision. Then you can evaluate both the choice and the subordinate’s judgement.

Finally, when you make your decision, don’t be pigheaded about it. If there’s a significant change of circumstances or new evidence comes in, be prepared to reconsider the matter.

However you end up resolving the matter at hand, the main thing is to trust your own judgement: Because if you don’t, no one else will either.

Get it decided – today!