I’ve been working with a number of teams lately who seem to struggle with decision-making. A couple of frequent complaints include:
- “Decision-making takes too long. We’re trying to make decisions by consensus but we just never get anywhere.”
- “It doesn’t matter what we say, the manager/leader always makes the decision.”
- “We make a decision but then we just revisit it at the next meeting.”
If these protests sound familiar, you are not alone. It is quite common for teams to have difficulty with decision-making.
I’m a firm believer that as a leader you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. Surround yourself with great people (who are a good fit to your culture and environment) and you are on the road to success. Yet, I regularly see leaders who want to be the center of it all. They feel like they need to be the smartest ones in the room. Instead of sharing information, they withhold it thinking it gives them power. They let their egos and/or insecurities get in the way. They fail to invest in their team because they are afraid that that if their team members look too good, they will look bad (e.g., stupid, not knowledgeable, less skilled). As it turns out, they end up “looking bad” because the team isn’t as successful as it could be. And they only have themselves to blame. 
