SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 160,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each Tuesday in our e-newsletter.
Last week, we asked: How much do you involve others in your decision-making?
- I sometimes seek outside opinion but make many decisions on my own: 63%
- I always seek outside opinion before making a decision: 30%
- I rarely seek outside opinion and make the majority of decisions on my own: 6%
- I never seek outside opinion when I’m making a decision: 1%
In a tremendously complex and fast-moving work environment, it’s clear we never have all of the information we need. To make good decisions, gathering additional information is always a good thing as long as it’s done in a timely manner and doesn’t derail the decision-making process. Your job as a leader is to find that sweet spot between gathering information and building consensus without taking so long to do it that you miss your opportunity. Additionally, taking in too many opinions can erode your credibility as a leader because people might begin thinking you’re not confident in your decisions. Find the balance in all of these objectives, and your decision-making will almost always be sound.
Mike Figliuolo is managing director of ThoughtLeaders and author of “One Piece of Paper.”