🌟Increase Your Confidence in Your Managerial Decisions🌟

Dear Leaders,

Crossing from individual contributor to a people manager is a big jump. Now the decisions that you make affect your subordinates’ lives, which is quite stressful. However, here are some habits, which could be cultivated to enhance and build confidence in managerial judgment. Here’s how:

👂 Listen :

Why it matters: Sometimes, especially when business moves have been planned in detail, especially when you are in a supervisory or managerial position, you can be overwhelmed by the expectation to provide answers to people’s questions, but it is also a great virtue for leaders to ask questions but get down to listen to the answers.

Example: In the middle of a group discussion, and instead of responding to the issue at hand by giving a solution, turn to the team and request their help. Apart from this, it also helps people know that their contribution is respected which can foster different views that can be beneficial for decision-making purposes.

🤪 Thinking of Multiple Possibilities :

Why it matters: A poor judgment normally arises as a result of small thinking. This is due to the simple understanding that choosing between alternatives makes better decisions than when one has to select a preference out of a single available choice.

Example: Before making a decision that is particularly critical for a project, seek advice from experts. You might say, for instance, “Here are options A and B, and following this framework, the trade-offs are this, that, and the other thing but am I missing anything?”

This way, you are more likely to see things you are not seeing and make better decisions.

📊 Trust Data. .. and Your Intuition :

Why it matters: Despite the fact that information is critical in decision making, judgment by feel is an important tool in managerial decision making.

Example: Letting an organization launch a new product when the data shows it is feasible but in your heart telling you the market is not ready is incorrect. That intuition and consider getting a second opinion or run a mini lay test first. The objective of this balance is to ensure that you are making logical as well as reasonable decisions.

🕰️ Be Patient :

Why it matters: Impulsive choices are dangerous, and implementing them will cost your credibility. Vitto took the time to use a clear decision-making process which ensures you are able to arrive at sound decisions within the healthcare organization.

Example: A friend once promoted a new employee to a position just to get rid of an open position, only to regret his actions after seeing that the new hire was not upto the tasks.

Considering this, one should take his/her time to interview and do reference checks although this will take time to have a candidate in that position. Much benefits will be accrued to any decision maker who takes his/her time, carefully analyzes the best decision to be made.

Putting It All Together: Improving Managerial Judgment

• Practice Active Listening: Ensure that the response from the team members is more than just a nod when you are speaking to them. This not only helps in building a trusting relationship with the customers but also gives a lot of information.

• Explore Multiple Solutions: This means that the first solution that one gets should not be applied. Get advice from others and discuss all possible choices to see you are being balanced in your choices.

• Balance Data and Intuition: Never ignore your instincts while at the same time analyze all the information from the data processing part. Sometimes, your gut feeling will be an essential source of information that data may never capture.

• Exercise Patience: Do not rush to make decisions. Spend your time, going through a proper algorithm, when coming up with such decisions; aim for reliable decisions.

Conclusion : 

It must be noted that building confidence as a manager is a process that requires time and much practical rendering. Through practicing the listening skills; thinking through the options, weighing the rational with the intuitive, as well as showing patience, one will acquire such habits that enable him/her to make good decisions that would foster the performance of the members of the team, as well as the organization as a whole. In this way of development, one can observe the positive results in the successes of leadership activities.

Warm regards,

Aashish Singhal

Founder, Navigating Leadership with The Financial Soul

Follow me on LinkedIn  Aashish Singhal

Subscribe to our newsletter "Navigating Leadership with The Financial Soul"