Decision-Making
I’m terrible at little decisions. As a kid, my best friend and I would waste hours of our playdates making lists about what we might do, rather than doing something. I can swirl in circles picking Friday night take out with my family (a well-loved weekly tradition).
I’m great at big decisions. Even when there is risk involved. At 25, I finished graduate school and moved 1,500 miles away from my friends, boyfriend (now husband), and family to take a job. More recently, I left a full time job at a great mission-driven organization to co-found Leadwell with Jodi.
Jodi and I work with a lot of clients on decision-making. At the organization-level, we’ve helped schools explore whether and how to grow. We’ve partnered with organizations to chart new strategic plans. At the individual level, we’ve worked with leaders craving greater confidence in their own decisions, knowing the weight that those decisions hold. We’ve coached leaders who are reimagining their careers.
Here’s the thing. We’re really good at decision making at Leadwell. Here’s how we do it in practice.
Know your role. Is this my decision to make? Or is my role to advocate, to influence, to advise? In a lot of cases, it hasn’t been clearly defined who the decision maker really is. Name that, and get clear on roles.
What matters most? The clearer you are on your values (as a person and in your organization), the clearer you are on how to make decisions, and what decisions to make. Leadwell’s Decision-Making Framework helps organizations make choices that are aligned with what matters most to them.
Get advice. Run an inclusive process. (1) People who know the content and context best, know best. Think: the students, the people you serve, the staff doing the work. (2) Who will push your thinking, and see things you don’t? This includes those with a different way of seeing the world (e.g., you see big picture, they thrive in tactics), those with a different functional expertise (e.g., the CFO will see financial implications the program person might not), or they hold different identities and lived experiences than you. (3) Call on a fierce champion. Consider the person in your life that challenges you and cheers for you to be your boldest, truest self.
Values + Data + Intuition = Path Forward. Connect what matters most with what you see in the data. Yes, ask and explore targeted research questions to understand the market and landscape. At the same time, we challenge our clients to dial down their focus on what other people are doing and dial up their focus on what they know to be true.
Decision made.
Then…
Communicate the journey. Tell the story of how and why the decision was made.
Get clear on implementation. What does this decision mean we will start, stop, pause on doing?
Know it’s not forever. This decision is the next best step now. Keep noticing, learning, and adapting.
Wash and repeat.
We help clients see that they are at choice. And then make a choice. As we continue larger scale strategic/growth planning projects with our partners, we’re excited to also offer a new low cost, low time, high impact offering to leaders on big topics like decision making. Stay tuned for more details. Click here to hear first when this new offering is open for registration.
Remember how I said that I’m terrible at little decisions, and great at big decisions? I have a theory about that. I’m really clear about my values and what matters most. That brings simplicity to the complex decisions. The small stuff doesn’t matter too much to me, so I get muddled up. Click here to get notified when we launch our new offering. Email me at christina.patrick@theleadwellgroup.com with suggestions of what type of take out to order this week.
In partnership,
Christina (and Jodi)
