Looking over some of the blogs I have posted during the past
three years, it seems that I have listed a significant number of leadership
functions as being “primary”.
It really emphasises the need for a leader to be something
of a polymath; to be able to cover all the bases while still being in a
position to take action outside the normal and as necessary.
It’s a tough call but the great leaders seem to take it n their
stride. The fact is that the decision
making process is central to the position of leader and that would apply to all
the other functions. Simply put, if the
leader is indecisive, then however able he/she is in other ways, they are as
nothing in the face of indecision.
Most of the great (benign, I do not include well known
dictators)) leaders generally prefer an inclusive style of management with
sensible consultation with either teams or specialists in order to come to a
satisfactory conclusion.
An authoritarian leadership style is usually very decisive
but frequently without the benefit of advice from anyone else (it’s often
called “gut feel”) and this can lead to an enhanced need for problem solving.
Great leaders have in their make-up a level of humility
which tells them that they really don’t know everything and discussions and
consultation with others who perhaps know a bit more can only be beneficial.
In the end, of course, someone needs to make the decision
and that is more often than not is the province of the leader.
Coming as I do from an engineering background I am well
aware that some people like to have as much information as is humanly or Gooley
possible before they attempt to come to
a conclusion. It’s called “paralysis by
analysis” and it generally stifles decision making.
Equally, the structure of the organisation is important;
partnerships, for example, seem to have been set up with the prime intention of
making decisions impossible.
I recall a member of my Vistage CE group some years ago who
was Managing Partner of a large law firm.
We were discussing decision making and I rather naively ventured that it
should be relatively simple as all they needed was consensus among the 26 or so
partners.
He looked at me with a mixture of incomprehension and pity.
“Consensus?” he
almost shouted: “They don’t know the
meaning of the word. They insist that every decision must be unanimous”.
I timidly suggested that this could mean a slowing up of the
decision making process and he growled: “You
could say that!”
The whole point of this is that while it makes a great deal
of sense for the leader to consult and take advice from both internal and
external sources, in the end it is the leader’s primary function (there I go
again) to make the decision, for good or ill.
It is, as I said before, a tough call and that is why the
leader is in that position. It will
often lead to change and managing that is another issue which is in the
province of the leader.
Frankly, it never ends and that is why the position of
leader is both demanding and exhilarating.
It demands, amongst others, humility, awareness, sensitivity understanding, creativity and,
above all, decisiveness.
If you have all that lot, you’ve got it made.
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