A hallmark of leadership is being the person who has to make the hard decisions. The hardest decisions have many bad options, a good dose of unknowns, and a number of stakeholders who stand to take a hit depending on the outcome of those decisions. Leaders can’t avoid these choices – but they can take steps to overcome uncertainty and reduce the fallout among those impacted.
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In this Harvard Business Review article, David Maxfield dives into the factors that make tough decisions so hard. In addition to uncertainty, he points to “value complexity” - the idea that even the best decisions will ultimately harm some people. These two features working together can cause leaders to “dither, delay, and defer,” when they should be acting, he writes.
Read this article for Maxfield’s actionable tips for dealing with uncertainty and value complexity head-on. The results, Maxfield argues, “can help those affected by your decisions better accept the consequences.”
