Being a leader means having to make the tough decisions. Sometimes you have all the relevant facts before you. Sometimes you have to take a shot in the dark. All of your decisions matter: for you, for your team, and for your company.
How do you learn to make the good decisions and to avoid making the bad ones? By making them. Decision-making is a skill, and as such you learn it by doing it well over and over again. The philosophers call this skill wisdom or prudence.
Of course, when you’re in the midst the making decisions, you can’t be focused on skill-development. You have the matter at hand to contend with. So, when do you focus on developing the skill? Practice sessions!
Get together with fellow sales leaders and role-play decision-making scenarios. Practice making decisions with little information and with too much information, with little risks and with major risks, and always consider the possible consequences of your decisions. Get used to making good decisions in practice time so that you’re better equipped to make them quickly in real time.
