Field Notes

Perhaps the hardest task in leadership is making decisions that negatively impact people the leader cares about. 

Decisions are choices with consequences. By definition, deciding to follow a specific path forward eliminates other choices and pathways. 

This invariably means that some people will be negatively impacted by the choice. Good leaders make the call anyway. Not because it is easy or without struggle, but because it is the right thing to do for the larger enterprise. 

Leaders must always hold the health and survival of the organization and team above the needs of any individual, no matter how much they care about them. 

While nothing will take away the stress and unhappiness of doing the right thing for the team and the wrong thing by the individual, the best leaders follow three steps to guide their actions and messages after the difficult decision has been made. 

First, they acknowledge the difficulty of the situation. They openly describe the distress and weight of the decision and how painful it was for them to make such a call. While this admission will not erase the hurt of those on the losing side, it reflects the authenticity of the leader and shows them to be human when humanness matters most. 

Second, they offer the details behind the decision, explaining the painstaking steps used in reaching the conclusion. People affected negatively want to know the leader spent the time to consider all the relevant data and facts and didn’t rush to the decision. Describing the decision process and the many viewpoints evaluated goes a long way in allowing those affected to concede the decision was considered from all angles. Good leaders don’t justify the decision. They explain it. 

Third, they provide the support those impacted need to navigate the changes and consequences of the decision. They proactively stand ready with the financial resources, counseling, mental health assistance, training, or other support they believe those affected will require. Most importantly, good leaders make themselves accessible to discuss and listen to those impacted, even when this is stressful and exhausting. 

Dealing with their own stress over the matter should not be overlooked.  In their own minds, leaders who make such decisions must discipline themselves to separate feelings of regret and remorse. 

Whereas remorse suggests they feel badly or even guilty about how their actions negatively affected others, regret reflects a feeling that if given the choice again, they would make a different decision. 

Feeling remorseful is the right feeling for a leader who makes such a difficult call, but regret is not something they should accept or validate. Leaders must believe that if given the same choice, at the same time, with the same facts, they would reach the same conclusion. 

This means good leaders don’t regret the decision even if they feel remorseful about it. If they would alter the call, then it was the wrong decision in the first place.