From what to eat or wear to what to tackle first at work, we make hundreds of decisions every day. Some are fairly insignificant, like choosing how many cups of coffee it will take to properly motivate you. But other decisions can have serious consequences for yourself or others. When making those choices, it can be easy to get caught up, systematically and methodically weighing all your options. While it can feel like a sensible process, it can waste valuable time and ultimately cost you from making the best decision. I call this paralysis by analysis. Sometimes you just need to make the call.
Have you realized that making life-or-death decisions requires the same process as making any low-stakes decision? The requirement in the SEAL teams is that we’ve gone through multiple different scenarios, we’ve trained in the most extreme and most challenging environments, and accounted for the worst-case scenarios (i.e Murphey’s Law). Ultimately we realize, there’s no 100% perfect decision.
I want to briefly lay out the three-step process we Navy SEALs use in making decisions.
Gathering Input
Gathering input from others is key (especially the input from people who don’t think like you). Have you created an environment and a culture where people can respectfully disagree with you? Can they say: “Hey, I don’t think that’s a great idea. Here’s how I would do it.” That framework enables the best possible decisions. Too many leaders think they have to make the decision all by themselves. Relying on your team is not a sign of weakness, because strong leaders leverage their resources.
Decide your Drop Dead Time
One of my Team 10 OICs use to say: “The first decision in decision making isn’t the decision. The first decision is when to make your decision. That’s the thing that most people get wrong.” Determining when to make a decision relies on getting the best possible inputs needed to make the decision as quickly as you can. Sometimes the decision time is 30 seconds, such as deciding when to call in air support. Other times the decision time could be two weeks. You can even decide not to decide.
Teams will always reach a drop dead time when the value of extra input costs more than the time associated with getting that input. At that inflection point is when you want to make your decision. You start losing value by waiting longer. Lastly make sure you take into account your sixth sense. Pay attention to your gut because oftentimes it’s telling you something that is very valuable and yet its unmeasurable.
Be Ready and Willing to Shift Fire
After making the decision, it’s possible you made the wrong one which is why humility is one of the greatest leadership qualities on the planet. “I screwed that up” are the four most powerful words a strong leader can say. Why? Because it’s a sign of comfort in your own skin, transparency, a sign of confidence and not needing to look “good” in front of an organization. Instead, you’re putting the organization before yourself with your humanity on full display.
When making decisions, a lot of senior leaders let their ego get in their way. They think that reversing course is going to make them look bad or weak. You can actually gain a lot of additional trust and credibility from your team when you acknowledge a wrong decision.
This year, let’s all strive to be a leader who is empathetic, humble, transparent, and who leads by example. Remember throughout this year to gather as much input by the established drop dead time, which will allow you to make quicker decisions and know that if you make the wrong one, your team will still have your back because they trust you.