The Hindu Business Line : Fear of decision-making

Every one dreams of becoming a leader and yet few, very few, actually become one! Most people end up in varying degrees of pseudo leadership. That’s a harsh but true description of most people occupying positions of leadership. Positions don’t make leaders; instead, leaders adorn positions.

You can ascend the throne by machination and manipulation but that doesn’t earn you a secure place in the hearts of your followers. For that you’ve got to be a true blue inspiring role model. Only then can you lead ordinary people to deliver extraordinary results.

Evolve into a leader

How do you become a leader? The simple answer is you don’t! You evolve into a leader over a period of time. Like the caterpillar metamorphosing into a butterfly! Traversing a painful path paved with blood, sweat, toil and, most important of all, personal sacrifice. Learning to put other people first! Believing that everyone needs self-respect as much as oxygen. Like obese individuals working towards total fitness by following an agonising regimen of diet and exercise, leadership aspirants need to commit to radical personal change. They have to make the tough trek from selfishness to selflessness.

On the road to leadership you simply don’t have the luxury of personal bias. Personal predilections have to be relegated to the back seat in the face of corporate priorities. Eternal vigilance is needed to guard against likes and dislikes interfering with decision-making and organisation development.

Leadership demands not only that you be fair; you must also be seen to be fair. That’s because every move and every decision is subject to scrutiny, analysis, discussion, amplification and transmission. This is the stuff of organisational perception!

Confront fears

Leadership is all about confronting fears and overcoming them, not only in yourself but also in the people around you. Most people are haunted by a fear of failure that chains them to routine and comfort zones. That really is normal! But leadership demands going beyond what is normal. To break free and attain potential we need to ask “what’s going to happen if I fail?”

When we pinpoint consequences of “failure” we’ll find that they are much less scary than we thought. We’ll also be able to think through steps that can mitigate those consequences. Insurance, backups and contingency plans can all be brought into play. We can then weigh the risks more accurately and be proactive. If we practice this iteration often we’ll overcome the fear of failure; that is the single most important factor necessary for success.

Avoiding tough calls

On the path to leadership, fear of decision-making looms large. Don’t you see many people in positions of authority frequently fudging the issues to avoid making tough calls? The classic ploy for avoidance is asking for additional information; no matter what you provide, the boss still asks for something more, something else! That’s his way of buying more time, hoping he can pin the lack of information as the cause for not deciding.

Inability to make decisions stems from a fear of making “wrong” decisions. This fear unleashes an entire sequence of supplementary fears: What if the decision causes losses? Will I look bad? What happens to my career then? Will I lose my position? Can my income take a dip? If so how can I continue to meet my large commitments for my family’s education and housing? How can I maintain my current life style? Will my relatives and friends pour scorn on me?

Stands exposed

Many, many CEOs, COOs and CFOs are plagued by these fears. They tie themselves up in knots by deploying decision avoidance strategies much to the chagrin, amusement and downright contempt of their constituencies. After the first few attempts to deflect decisions, the boss stands completely exposed. Everyone can clearly see through the deception. It’s like the Emperor’s new clothes all over again!

It doesn’t have to be like this because people respect a decision maker even when some decisions go awry. You’re allowed to make some wrong calls! I’ve not met any leader who’s only made correct decisions throughout his career.

In any case, what is right and what is wrong is very contextual; environments and situations have a lot to do with the appropriateness of a decision; unless of course the decision relates to values and principles which are universal and inalienable. The interesting part is that decision-making improves with practice. Anyone can be off target sometimes. I’d rather have a leader who makes wrong decisions occasionally than a leader who occasionally makes decisions!

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