3 ways to make tough decisions a little easier
Every day, the average person makes about 35,000 decisions. From what we eat for breakfast to major life changes, our brain is constantly working to sort out the best choice. As a leader, the decisions you make often have an outsized impact, and can affect an entire team—or company.
Jyoti Menon knows all too well the importance of making the right call. With over 20 years of experience in strategy, product management, and development for financial services organizations, she is frequently tasked with making high-pressure decisions and leading the resulting execution. Currently the VP of Product - Service and Engagement for Bread Financial, Jyoti owns the development and growth of their mobile app, a position that calls for a level-headed approach to constant change and the tough choices that come with it. Recently, she was generous enough to sit down with me and share how she brings her team along with her when these tough decisions need to be made.
Trust your team
When high-pressure situations come up, Jyoti reminded me that you don’t have to make those decisions in a bubble. Research has shown that different perspectives and experiences enhance our judgment, and the knowledge and counsel of your leadership team can be a game-changer in decision-making. Jyoti emphasizes the importance of listening to your team,
“They’re [in] the weeds, and often know more than I do in a lot of cases.”
She stresses that making a good decision is often about what information you have at your fingertips at the time. If your leadership team has done the hard work of evaluating a situation and has raised critical inputs for you to consider, trust them.
However, this solution is only effective if you have created a culture where your team feels safe advising you and, most importantly, bringing their concerns to you. “Some of it is just building that trust with your team to say, ‘look, I’ve got your back,’” says Jyoti. Psychological safety is frequently buzzed about in leadership circles, and that’s for good reason. Psychological safety is connected with increased performance, creativity and engagement, and — as Jyoti has indicated — can lead to better decision-making. “For [your] team to come back to [you] and say, ‘hey, xyz is broken,’ or ‘we have a challenge here,’ you need to build a culture where they feel like they can pick up the phone.”
Ask yourself: What would shift in my decision-making benefit if I was more intentional about furthering trust with my team?
The “why” is essential
Jyoti stresses that you won’t always make the right choice. “Maybe in that moment, it’s the right decision,” she says. “You look back and wonder why you went down that path, and then you realize it’s based on what you know at that time, not what you know now.” When the fallout from that finding happens—like having to abandon a project or stop working on a feature—Jyoti emphasizes the importance of transparency.
When a decision comes down, teams may be confused or frustrated. How much information you share with your team will vary depending on the situation, but Jyoti advises that teams want to—and need to—know why the choice didn’t work. Make a point of explaining why to your team, and explain how that choice is connected to the bigger business goals. Sometimes, she says, the reasoning will be something like “we think this other widget can actually do the job better,” but it’s equally important to be transparent if the reason is simply “someone above my pay grade made a decision, and I’m just the messenger.”
Research backs up Jyoti’s advice. A recent study indicated that employees want transparency from their organizations, and it has been shown that transparency leads to higher employee engagement, which is in direct correlation to business performance. Transparency is also an integral component of trust between leaders and their teams, of utmost importance as employees’ trust in HR and upper management declines.
Ask yourself: What steps can I take to be more transparent with my team about my decision-making process?
Acknowledging the challenge of change
When a decision is made, change isn’t far behind, and managing this shift is where many organizations stumble. In her experience, navigating change is very similar to making decisions.
“Be honest and say, ‘change is hard, end of story.’ Be very clear up front and be a bit vulnerable. As we’re driving change, we don’t necessarily know that we’ll have all the answers. Like, ‘I don’t have a crystal ball. We’re going to try something. It may or may not work.’ I think that is really important to share.”
Teams need to understand what outcomes leadership is seeking, but also why the change is happening, and Jyoti advises ongoing check-ins throughout the process—even when it’s over. During the change, make space to connect with those the change affects regularly. Be open not only to hearing your team’s feedback about how it’s going, but to acting on that feedback as well. Acknowledge what your people are saying. Telling your team, “I hear you saying that XYZ is a concern,” followed by an explanation of your rationale for addressing the issue (or not) is incredibly impactful. We don’t always think to reflect on how the change went, because we so often move right on to the next change, but the opportunity to learn isn’t to be missed. Jyoti recommends asking, “What were the results of that change? What were the benefits?”
Ask yourself: What actions can I take to more effectively enable my team to navigate change?
The ability to make difficult decisions—and to successfully execute them—is the mark of a great leader. But as Jyoti advises, the path to doing so is deceptively simple: trust your people, value their input, and tell them the truth.
“None of us is as smart as all of us.”
-Ken Blanchard