…any road will do. This excerpt from Alice in Wonderland really underscores the requirement for decision making to deliver an effective, winning strategy. An organization cannot win on tactics alone and frankly, if you don’t have a vision for what you want to be and why, how can there be any alignment around priorities, goals and objectives?
There are many reasons why organizations don’t determine a future to pursue – often due to the fear of actually making a decision. Sometimes decisions are not made as the company wants to ‘hedge its bets’ and pursue multiple outcomes “just in case”.
In many cases people don’t like to make these hard decisions because this firmly places accountability at the feet of the decision maker. Often egos and characters jockey for position and ownership of the most important decisions for the organization. But the job of the senior leadership is to make decisions, to determine a suitable winning course for the business, to make tough choices and to set a course for future sustainable prosperity.
Once a decision is made on the future direction, strong leadership and senior team engagement are essential in the successful implementation of the decision because ultimately this is still the only acid test as to how good a decision actually is.
Of course, we live in complex and turbulent times which makes good decision making even harder. The crystal ball appears a little more foggy these days and the reality of our situation can be uncertain. Nevertheless, a good assessment of the current situation, a creative view on the possibilities, understanding trends and taking some bets on future scenarios will lead to a greater chance of success.
Ultimately there are many leaders who perhaps feel most comfortable knowing that any direction will do, as their necks will not be on the line.->