Effective and informed decision-making is one of the key pillars of a company’s success. Whether you own a small business or a large organization, you need to know how to make tough decision. As a leader, you will encounter several instances where you will need to make tough calls and decide between doing what’s right and doing what’s best for your company. But it doesn’t end there. Lets get into how to Do what is right in the corporate world?
You will also have to be ready to face the consequences of those tough decisions that you make. The best leaders in the corporate world are the ones who take the least credit when things go the right way and take most of the blame when things go wrong. Never forget this, the best of leaders never stop doing what is right rather than doing whats best. The best leaders see their bottom line as a mere reflection of their leadership skills!
Why is Doing What’s Right Difficult vs. Doing What’s Best in a Corporate Setting?
Decision-making can be very stressful. In the corporate world, most decisions are stressful because they are very complex. You often encounter choices with extensive consequences or high stakes and/or those that deal with disagreeable or unsavory options. There are other factors that add stress.
For example, when you are pressed for time, when there are too many options, and when you are dealing with a novel domain that leaves you unsure about your preferences. However, the stress that often comes with decision-making in the business world primarily revolves around doing what’s right vs. doing what’s best.
These two factors can make even every day, low-stakes decisions very stressful and difficult.
Regardless, a majority of people, especially new business owners, tend to make poor decisions (subjectively and objectively) because they don’t want the stress of considering and weighing all the options or dealing with the consequences. They simply tend to do what they think is right at the moment for themselves and their desired outcomes. However, this approach can be detrimental to the success of a company.
This is because making the right decision typically gets misconstrued to doings what’s best, doing what is right relies on intuition and not analysis. Not to mention doing what’s right instead of what’s best makes us not want to make tough decisions and put effort towards achieving the best outcome for the company.
How to Do What’s Right Instead of What’s Best When Making Corporate Decisions
When it comes to making corporate decisions, prioritizing what’s right over what you think is best is encouraged. It is integral to a company’s branding and longevity. You can give your best by gathering all of the right available information, correctly identifying the options at hand, and making the most educated decision possible for what is right by your team, your people. Here are some guidelines that will help you do what’s best in terms of decision-making:
Define the Problem
Before making any decision, identify and comprehend the problem, situation, or scenario. Make sure you completely understand and have investigated the situation or problem from all angles. What’s the issue and what are your options for solving it? How will it effect your people? How can you do what is right by your team even if its not the best solution for the company? Can you trade off a short term risk for a long term reward?
Determine the Desired Outcome
Define and clarify the best possible outcome for the problem or situation. Define the goal and what a desired outcome would be. Determine what you are trying to accomplish and build consensus around that with your team.
Identify Solutions
Identify, explore, and investigate the best possible solutions or alternatives for each scenario. The wider the options you consider, the easier it will be for you to make the best decision. Considering different solutions will help you evaluate your options from each angle. After all, there’s always more than one way to solve a problem. After exhausting the various alternatives with your team, evaluate the implications and risks of each one and then choose your final solution.
Weigh the Risk to Do what is right in the corporate world?
Evaluate and analyze the potential risk and the chances of achieving a desired outcome from your decision. Each decision has specific odds that your choice will produce a successful result and a good outcome.
Use Your Emotions as a Tool
This is a subtler way of using your gut reaction or intuition to make a decision. Studies suggest that our ability to make decisions is essentially tied to our emotions and we rely heavily on our ability to process information on an emotional level to make decisions. So, while your emotions may sway you to do what is best, it is still recommended that you don’t ignore them. Simply, use them as a tool.
Use your emotions to guide you and consider the emotions you expect to experience in the future. Using emotions to map out the pros of each outcome in the long-term can be a powerful tool and it can certainly help you make the best decision.
Make an Informed Decision
Determine the best course of action and then make an informed decision, even if the odds are not 100%. If a particular alternative is clearly better than the rest, even if it doesn’t feel right at the moment, choose it. Figure out ways of easing your decisional conflict. If you still have multiple competing opinions and options, use your best judgements.
Live with it
Ignoring your integrity and using the easier approach that you feel is the right, but really what is best, can be a choice that is quite tempting. It is true that every decision you face has several pros and cons and no decision is a sure thing. It is also not possible to make a 100% perfect decision each time. So, it is recommended that you make the decision on the basis of all the options and information you have and then live with it. Never second guess your decision nor forsake your values over numbers.
Final Thoughts on Doing what is right in the corporate world?
Don’t get wrapped up in trying to make the “best” decision, especially in the corporate world. Many times, you have several options and many of the outcomes will feel terrible. In such scenarios, try to give your best and don’t hesitate to make tough calls. In order to make decisions more efficiently and effectively, it is also important to eliminate ‘all or nothing’ mentality. Such thinking can lead you to making the wrong decisions.
Don’t let your fear of not making the right choice paralyze you. Decisions become easier when you reduce anticipated regret and guilt. Till next Time! – The Black Sheep
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