Decision-Making And Delegation In Business
Running any kind of
organisation means that you need to make decisions. Some will be “quick and easy”. Others will
require much more thought and assessment of options.
A number of factors contribute to how we make decisions and
what decisions we make, among them:
- Cultural background
- Education
- Past experience
- Pressure of time
- Information available
- Consequences of decision taken
- Company rules
We make decisions every day of our lives - often without
even realising that we’ve made one. This
arises because of previous conditioning that teaches us to react in a
particular way when faced with certain stimuli.
For any organisation to function effectively, you need the
right people taking the right decision at the right level for the right reasons.
Whether the organisation is a family unit, a Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) or a global company, one often runs the risk
that there will be one dominant decision-maker.
At times, this is no bad thing, particularly when decisions have to be
made quickly to avoid major problems.
The danger is that this one individual dominates decision-making
to the extent that they believe that only their way is the right way (often
happens in SMEs). They may over-rule others
because they didn’t make the decision
(even though it was a valid one).
For any individual or organisation to survive, they need to
learn to make decisions on their own.
Difficult though it may be, people need to learn to trust others. Quite simply, you can’t expect to be around all the
time.
What are the results of not trusting/delegating:
- Every decision will come to you
- You will be overloaded as a result
- You may miss things as a result
- When you’re not around, nothing will get done
- You don’t develop future leaders for the organisation
- You will be resented because people feel you don’t trust them
- Customers will wonder what’s going on…
All contribute to a “toxic” environment where mistrust is
high.
Abraham Maslow’s identified in his Hierarchy of Needs that people need to feel respected and/or esteemed
(“valued” is used by some). If you don’t
let them feel this, how can you expect them to really make an effort?
What could help?
- Start allowing smaller decisions
- Give authority within limits and let people know when you expect to be consulted
- Don’t over-rule just because you didn’t make the decision - they may actually be right!
- Review decisions with which you don’t agree in private - ask whether they considered other options or (in retrospect) what they might have done differently.
The most difficult thing for parents and bosses is “learning
to let go”. It’s the responsibility of
every good leader to develop their team as far as possible. A good team makes its leader look good.
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to offer solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Crisis Management, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
posted by William Martin @ 11:59
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