Good leaders are typically quality decision-makers. They spend the time to dissect a problem or opportunity, weigh the options, consider the intended and unintended consequences, and land on the best choice. When leaders do make poor decisions, there is a common culprit. Bad decisions are usually a reflection of something they didn’t know that they needed to know.
Think about any decision you have made in the recent past that didn’t turn out the way you had hoped. What didn’t you know when you made the decision that now, upon reflection, is something you desperately needed to recognize?
The solution is not to delay making a decision until all stones have been uncovered and every piece of information or data has been explored. Such an approach paralyzes decision-makers and prevents them from making decisions in a timely fashion. Leaders can never have all the data or knowledge they might desire.
Nor is the answer to the dilemma of not knowing to collect as much information as possible. Too much data can overwhelm the decision-making process and point decision-makers toward issues that are unimportant or tangential to the task at hand.
The best approach to combat the ignorance decision-makers have without knowing it is to use uncertainty as a tool. Clearly articulating what they need to know that they don’t know allows decision-makers to find the exact answers and information they need most. Once the problem or opportunity has been explored, developed, and restated, the next step is to acknowledge what you don’t know.
Brainstorming with colleagues to identify what the decision-makers need to know and what they don’t is a critical first step. This streamlines the information-gathering process and allows the team to create more clarity and certainty as they follow their preferred decision-making scheme.
Acknowledging what you don’t know first seems intuitive, but too many decision-makers fail to do it. Instead, they dive right into their process and fail to identify the knowledge they must have to make a great decision. This is an easy fix.
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