This is a guest post from one of our current members Val Wright.
Consultant / Speaker / Author
Val is a recognized global leadership and innovation expert who is known as a growth accelerator by top executives at Fortune 1000 companies including Microsoft, Amazon, LinkedIn, The Financial Times and PopCap Games.
Visit her website: https://www.valwrightconsulting.com/ to learn more!
Are you happy with the decisions you own?
It’s the number one complaint I get when someone is dissatisfied at work. Ever thought you owned a decision and then found out you didn’t? – Do you get stuck in a never-ending cycle of deciding and un-deciding? Do you have peers who think they own decisions that you actually own?
I’ve had endless leaders tell me that this is one of the most impactful and universally applicable tools in my book Rapid Growth, Done Right, so I am sharing it here for you all.
- First, create three columns on a piece of paper.
- Next, under the first column list decisions you want to own, you might own them today or they might be ones you wish your boss would let you make versus needing to consult with them.
- Then, under the second column, list decisions for which you are confused about who owns what, who cares about them, and who needs to be involved.
- Finally, use the third column to identify the decisions you are currently making that you want to give to someone else. This could be on your team or in another function.
Now go and talk to your CEO, your boss, your team, and get them to complete the same exercise. This will unlock great capacity for you personally and for your team because we fall into common patterns and habits and don’t always stop to think if this is the best use of time. This Deliberate Your Decisions tool can be found below. You will create the same clarity you get when you finally have your windows cleaned – you will wonder how you were ever able to see clearly before! Your role in leading rapid growth is to create remarkable decision-makers around you.
This just one of the 9 decision-making tools available in Chapter Six of Rapid Growth, Done Right. (- at the time of writing this – Amazon in the US is running a promotion with a 32% discount!)
I heard nutrition guru Robb Wolf speak once and he offered a surprising piece of parenting advice that equally applies to leading rapidly growing companies: You need to raise good decision-makers. Because your kids will make the most impactful decisions when you are not there.
His words didn’t just apply to teaching your children to eat well, nor did they just apply to parenting. They equally apply to leading teams. You have to teach your team to make good decisions when you are not around.
- Is everything falling into your lap?
- How can you remove single points of failure today?
Dedicated to growing your business,
Val
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