Good afternoon from a cold and damp Vancouver! I hope that this edition of Leadership Notes finds you well!
As I mentioned in mid July, I’ve been reading the explorations of a group of thinkers at the Neuro-leadership Institute, http://www.neuroleadership.org/index.shtml One of the most intriguing observations of the study of our brains is that the idea of a “rational person” is in fact fantasy. We make our decisions based on our emotions and then use the rational parts of our brains to explain our decisions to ourselves. This has some profound implications for us as leaders.
You’ll hear for example from some of us in leadership positions lines like, “let’s remove the emotional and look at this rationally to make our decision”, or even, “it’s not personal, it’s business.” It appears in fact that that is not as easy as we might like to think! (pardon the pun) That is not to say that we are not able to analyze, integrate, reflect, ponder and consider when we make decisions, but that we appear to make decisions based on our emotional response, and then do the analysis later. As I’ve been reflecting on this data, I think there are at least 3 techniques we can use to increase the quality of our decisions.
1. Recognize that my initial decision is most likely emotional, and will be based on a tapestry of triggers and complexes that I will often not even be conscious of. As much as possible as a leader, be wary of quick, in the moment big or material decisions, rather, ensure that you give yourself time to reflect, and even to sleep on the decision.
2. Ask yourself during this reflection time big and even ambiguous questions like; what do I need? What do others need? What does the organization/team need? What is the crossroads here? What are the possibilities here? What are the pros and cons? What do our organization/team values say?
3. Don’t be afraid to ‘change your mind.’ Changing your mind is often related to learning. If you realize that a decision made in the heat of the moment was not the right one, ‘get over yourself’ and change your mind. Your team will appreciate it, and so will you.
May this week be one where each of us gets to reflect and learn, then make a decision.
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Alisdair