"Would You Make the Same Decision?"
Watch this video: Making Decisions
Include these items in your response:
- Provide an example of a time when you made a decision regarding a work issue when procedures were not in place.
- Explain the steps you took to address the issue. What could you have done differently, and why?
https://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Making-decisions/160362/182193-4.html
Below is the video transcript, just in case the link does not work.
One of my colleagues has a phrase that I love. It's, "Thoughts are nice, but actions matter." In terms of leading the thinking, it's really easy to get caught-up in all these great ideas we have, and all the changes we want to make, but when it comes time to make a decision, we freeze, because decisions are risky, and we're afraid to make them. Sometimes you need that maxim to get you off the line, make the call, and move the organization forward.
If you have trouble making decisions and driving that organization to change,this maxim is going to be very important to you. I have had two maxims that I've used over the years that have helped me make decisions. The first is, "If you choose not to decide, "you still have made a choice." It's a lyric from a Rush song. The song is called "Freewill." I remember the first time I heard it I was in high school, but those lyrics spoke to me.
They said, "Inaction is still an action." I've carried that forward, and when I find times where I'm doing a lot of analysis, and saying, "I don't want to make a decision right now," it's a reminder that I just made a decision. The decision I made was to wait. Many times in business in moving your organizations forward, waiting has a true cost. That maxim reminds me, "I need to make some decision now." The second maxim that I've used to drive decisions is, "In case of doubt, attack." It was a quote from General George S Patton.
He is the Patron Saint of United States Army armor. Patton had a belief that you can't just sit there, and if you're not sure what to do, move forward. In terms of emotional resonance within the leadership maxim's method, Patton has a special place in my heart. Patton went to West Point. I went to West Point. I used to walk past Patton's statue every single day on my way to class. When I graduated, I was an Armor Officer.
I had a great deal of respect for General Patton and his leadership, and that mantra, that maxim of, "In case of doubt, attack," reminds me during those times where I'm really not sure or I'm afraid to make this decision, "I need to do something." As you think about your maxims for making a decision, moving beyond thought and into action, think about situations where somebody made a call and it was uncertain and ambiguous, but they had the courage to make the call.
They moved the organization forward, and good things happened. That story can be a good source of a maxim. Think about times that you've made a decision, when you didn't have all the information, and you went with your gut and things worked out well. That can be another place that you can look for your maxim to server as that trigger to drive you to move forward. Once you have that maxim, you can then set that expectation with your team, that you want them to behave the same way.
Tell them, "In case of doubt, attack." Members of my team know that maxim.They understand that's what I expect of myself, as well as of them. It gives them permission and it encourages them to take action even if they're not 100 percent what the outcome is going to be. Define that decision-making maxim,and then think about how you can apply it to situations where you're not really sure, you're a little afraid to decide, and that maxim will move you off the line and into action.