Deer in the Headlights

You have heard the phrase. Deer jumps out in the middle of the road and freezes while looking at the oncoming vehicle, neither returning to where it came from or continuing on their path.

This periodically happens in business by decision makers. Due to fear of failure, risk aversion, or just plain do not know what to do, the decision maker delays or does not make a decision. You have done it, I have done it, others have done it.

I have used a quote in the past, "Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out."

If you are in a leadership position, you need to create an environment where you recognize and celebrate intelligent risk taking. Intelligent risk taking is the lifeblood of growth. If a risky initiative works, great. If it doesn't, turn those failures into developmental experiences . . . focus on the positives. It is okay to fail if you learn something from the experience (just don't make the mistake over again). Everyone makes mistakes, you will make mistakes so get over that (I know I have made my share). In an environment where failure of sticking your hneck out is "punished", it prevents innovation and risk taking and thereby hurting future growth opportunities.

If you are having difficulty making a decision, set a deadline (and communicate it) and obtain as much information as you can. Then, make the decision and focus on making it successful (don't keep second guessing your decision). Remember, as a leader, people are looking to you on this decision and are waiting to know what to do until your decision is made. Effectively, a no decision becomes a decision (and many times creating a ripple impact of other decisions which might be detrimental to the unit). Use a status quo case in your analysis because this becomes the case where no decision is made.

In decision making, you will rarely have all the information you need to make the "right" decision. However, you can make a good decison based upon the information you can gather and past experiences.

Don't be a deer in the headlights, as you might be looking at a mess in your hands.

Business versus Personal

Business is Business. We all need to remember that . . . there are times as leaders that business gets personal, especially as our personal lives become more intertwined with business. However, you must separate emotional personal feelings from business decision. If you dont, you will end up making a possible irrational decision.

Situation might be something like, you are a personal friend of one of your colleagues but they are not performing well. After giving them several chances, at some point in time, you need to address it in a formal business way. In the past, I have had to address this situation, and found that the person was struggling themselves (because they knew they were not performing up to expectations) but they kept trying (versus quiting) out of loyalty to the personal friend. When I fired the person, it was a look of relief on that person's face (after I spent several nights dreading the moment). It was a learning for me . . . business is business, and must keep personal emotions out of the process.

The opposite is true as well, you might despise someone personally, but you cannot let this bias your business decision.

There are other times, where you might become so emotional that you fail to make a rational decision. Try your best to remove emotions from the business decision making process. I am not saying . . . dont be emotional or passionate about decisions but from inserting your personal emotions (both good and bad) into a business decision that need a consistent and rational decision!

All leaders have been in this situation, it's not easy, but just remember business is business.