Last week I explored the difference between the problem solving manager who personally figures out a solution and the decision making manager who arbitrates among alternative solutions offered by their team members.
As you advance in your leadership career, there will come a point where even arbitrating competing ideas is no longer an appropriate role for you to play.
I recall more than one organization whose senior leadership team felt powerless. They were told that they were empowered to make decisions. They would meet and engage in healthy, productive debate. They would reach a decision and commit together to a common course of action. But as they were beginning to execute, a president, CEO, or owner would step in and announce that they were to go a different direction.
Eventually these senior leaders stopped making decisions. They stopped executing. The top leader became a bottleneck that slowed down the entire organization.
Why did it happen? Because the vision and values of the top leader weren’t clear to the executive team. They may not have even been clear to the top leader.
When you’re leading a group of smart people who are capable of evaluating options and finding agreement on decisions, it’s time to retire your role as an arbitrator or decision maker. Instead, you must make sure that your team members have common information, direction, values, and vision to make those decisions without you.
If you find yourself regularly overriding decisions that your team makes, let’s talk. Visit stevedwire.com/talk to start the conversation.
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