D is for decisive
I wonder how many aspiring leaders would have had the courage to make a decision like Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks did, when he overlooked the “beast” at the yard line on the greatest stage in professional sports: the Super Bowl. You have to be pretty comfortable in your own skin to make that decision as a leader! Could you have done it? Would you have done it?
How would you compare your day to day with such a big stage? A leader can take over for a moment. A leader can evaluate the playing field. A leader can accentuate the positive framework by involving his team. However, a leader who is not decisive may not achieve the best results.
Could you have done it? What would it have taken to feel confident enough to make a comparable decision on your biggest stage, while a high-powered microscope is under the lens?
Confidence comes to mind. A leader must have confidence not only in himself, but also in his team and its abilities. The team must also have confidence and trust in its leader. With the Seahawks, the team did its best to make the last play. There were no doubts. There was no half-hearted effort. Clearly, the team was confidently aligned with his leadership.
How can you trust your ability to lead and make decisions? Experience plays a very important role. We improve in decision making, especially those in our area of excellence, after having made some that end in success and failure. Many times our best lessons come from our failures and fail steps along the way.
But what if you have no experience? There are times when more is expected of us than our experience offers. Imagine this is your first “Super Bowl” with a young team fresh out of college. Even though both you and your team are inexperienced, you still have to do everything you can to lead them to victory. To give your team the best chance, you should seek the advice and support of veteran and experienced assistant coaches. Although not all of us are professional soccer coaches, the people who guide us on the sidelines can help us make the tough decisions that are presented to all leaders. Here’s how a trusted support group, mentor, coach, or ally could be a smart investment. We don’t always realize what we don’t know until we need it. Investing in your own self-awareness will create even greater dividends than the simple salary increase you get from moving up the corporate ladder.
Does your decision still seem too big to make? We can learn a good lesson from Jim Rohn, a highly successful man who came out of the means to discover his fortune … “It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You can’t. progress without making decisions. ” Decide to be decisive. Take that veteran to help you make the tough decisions; that’s what makes you the leader and not the follower.
Learn to lead. Be decisive in the process and let the learning shine through from each experience.