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The sustainability of performance over time depends on the decision-making capacity of the individual and the team.
Many companies have core values that are intended to serve as a guide for how to conduct business. If you want to keep them at the center, you want all leaders to embrace them in every decision they take.
Have you ever thought about determining the “rightness of a choice” based on your values?
In my experience, people take two approaches when it comes to decisions: analysis and gut-feeling. We either apply our amazing mental capacities and try to find the most rational way of moving forward, or go with what feels best based on our tummy bubbling.
There would be a lot to say on how we can improve decision-making based on these two qualities, but here I would like to introduce a third perspective: evaluating alternatives based on your core values.
Using values as a compass
Values are who we are when we are at our best. They are an expression of our identity. The are deeply ingrained in our nature. They are a filter through which we perceive the world.
What makes it valuable to base decisions on them?
“I utilize our core values, such as excellence, integrity and respect, to make most major decisions. It is a simple yes or no as to whether the decision follows the core values. If it breaches any of the values, it is not a path that I will follow. I look for an alternate solution, or I do not take the action.” - Forbes quoting Daves Fechtman
Values in leadership are an easy-to-apply filter for evaluating your options.
A shift in perspectives does wonders
Sometimes we come to a place where it seems that we are faced with a decision that is still very hard to make. What makes a choice hard?
One possible reason for this comes from Ruth Chang: what makes a choice hard is that the alternatives you are evaluating are on par. This means that the alternatives live in a similar value environment. This makes all options seem equally good. There is no better option per se. Easy comparisons don’t exist anymore.
What to do now?
Chang offers a wonderful change in perspectives for that: if you face a though choice, ask yourself: who am I choosing to become through this?
In hard choices, it is who you want to be that determines the “rightness” of the choice.
Values in leadership: a transcendant element
One explanation that this shift in perspectives works in critical decision-making is that values are sort of independent from what you are facing:
“If you use values to make decisions, those decisions will align with the future you want to experience. Values transcend both contexts and experiences. Therefore, they can be used for making tough decisions in complex situations that have not yet been experienced. - Katherine W. Dean
Living up to your values in that sense can support you in making difficult decisions and choosing from competing alternatives. Not only will this allow you to move forward more quickly but it will be deeply aligned with the leader you choose to become.