5 Signals You’re About to Make a Bad Decision
How not to make bad decisions
I’ve made some bad decisions as a leader, but through those bad decisions I’ve learned there are some warning signs that indicate I’m about to make a bad decision.
While they won’t stop all bad decisions they can eliminate a number of them if I will take heed to them. I share them here because you may want to use them to help you in your decision making as a leader. Here are 5 warning signals that you’re about to make a bad decision;
1. You’re making the decision too quickly. You just want to be done with it and move on. Most important decisions need time for you to do your due diligence. I tell people before making a major purchases go home and sleep on it. That’s good advice for most decisions.
2. You’re waiting to long to make a decision. While acting to quickly can be a red flag you’re about to make a bad decision procrastinating can be as big a red flag. Often we keep putting off the tough decisions after we know what needs to be done. As a result in the time of delay we often rationalize away the right decision or dilute it in some way. Once you’ve have the facts and have gone through the process – make the decision
3. The decision will make everyone happy. My experience has been the best decisions NEVER please everyone. Most of us like to please people and will often compromise our decision in order not to upset people. Leaders need to make decisions that are the best.
4. You’re going against your spirit(gut). More times that not if you ignore your inward sense of what to do, you will regret it. There have been times when all the facts and counsel say to do this, but in my spirit I know it’s not right and I’ve ignored it and it ended up being a bad decision.
5. You don’t get counsel or ignore counsel. Just because you’ve made similar decisions many times don’t make the mistake of going it alone. There,s is safety in counsel. Bounce it off of someone. Don’t ignore wise council from Godly and trusted people. Some of the biggest mistakes I’ve made were against the counsel of some wise people.
So, if you’re about to make a decision to quickly or you’ve been dragging your feet or it will make everyone happy or it goes against your spirit or you’ve gone it alone you may be making a bad decsion. There could be other red flags you’ve developed to help guide you with your decisions. Add these five signals to them and use them all. They might help you avoid some of bad decisions and make better ones.
