Big decisions can be hard to make. Your career, business and personal life can all turn on your ability to make them, or not make them.Paralysis that comes with not making a scary decision – like move jobs to a new company, perhaps a competitor – that can be equally as influential on your future as making it. You might ultimately be repaid for showing loyalty and patience, or you might not. You might be repaid more by showing courage, necessary selfishness and taking a leap. It’s impossible to know how both sides turn out. Sticking where you are and not taking a leap: that in itself is a decision, but a decision that usually yields more foreseeable outcomes.
This week has seen major figures at the highest level of government paining over a massive decision. Arguably the most difficult part of their jobs as MPs came when they had to vote on whether or not the UK should launch air strikes on Syria. We all have tough decisions to make in our work from time to time, but they don’t come much tougher than that.What we find hard about making tough decisions is the uncertainty, not knowing the outcome, and how it will all pan out. We can try to give ourselves the best possible chance, gathering as much evidence, intelligence, detail, expert analysis and opinion as possible, to have the best idea of what might happen. But life is always unpredictable, as are people. Sometimes, perhaps even most of the time, we cannot confidently know the outcome.These basic principles are similar when it comes to deciding whether or not to go to war, and when you’re appointing a new member of staff. Will they fit in? Are they a decent worker, well-disciplined, steady home life? There are a great many variables and it’s hard to truly know the answers to all these questions.
[Read our blog on: Workplace Motivation Battles, Burnout and ‘Brownout’]Everyone copes differently when faced with big decisions, and every scenario is slightly different. The pluses might sometimes outweigh minuses, and vice-versa. You might naturally be selfless or selfish. You might get tired of yourself and all the deliberation, select a path and cross your fingers. You might go with what seems the most sensible, even if there’s a small fraction of risk. Or you might do nothing and hope everything sorts itself out.Those in small, nimble start-up businesses might necessarily take quick and bold decisions, in line with the notion of ‘failing fast’ in order to reach success. Whereas if you have more to lose and your business is of a more developed size, you might exercise more caution.Leaders of large organisations are leaders partly because it’s their responsibility to take decisions and breed confidence. It can be necessary to affect a confidence or certainty, when under the surface it might actually be in short supply. But big decisions, whether they turn out for the good or bad, can be important in making progress, moving forward, changing.How happy are you with things as they are, in your career, in your business, even in your life? With big decision making in business and careers, it all starts with the desire for change.If you’d like to talk about career options in construction, office administration, catering or care, please get in touch.
