Profitable Decision Making

By: Sandy Gluckman PhD.

Author of 'Who's in the Driver's Seat; Using Spirit to Lead Successfully'

Leaders at all levels are accountable for making decisions, large and small, strategic and tactical. Collectively, these decisions will move the company forward, keep it in neutral or move it backwards. The trick is to get leaders, throughout the organization, to make financially profitable and strategically aligned decisions from boardroom to backroom, keeping the company moving in the agreed direction. 

A profitable decision is defined as a decision that is:

•  Made in an efficient manner
•  That involves vigorous dialogue
•  That includes a wide diversity of input and perspective
•  That is strategically focused
•  That is based on fundamentally different thinking
•  And that leads to significant revenue enhancement.

The term ‘profitable,’ as applied to decisions, then refers, not only to financial outcomes but also to the return on investment on time, talent, and intelligence.

When ego is involved in decision-making there is a significantly increased probability that decisions will not be profitable - as defined above.  Ego-driven decision-makers, at all levels, will make mediocre and misaligned decisions that do not move the organization forward; or, even worse, they make poor decisions that cost the company money. 

To make vision-directed, strategically-focused, revenue-enhancing decisions requires that the decision makers have the integrity and strength of character to lay personal agendas aside and put the company’s goals first. If we are ego driven, this is unlikely to happen. The central purpose of ego is to protect us and take care of ‘me, my and I’.  This means that it is difficult, if not impossible to lay personal agendas aside, when our ego is in control. As a result ego-driven decision-makers tend to make defensive, self-serving, short-term, safe and strategically inappropriate decisions, regardless of whether the decisions are right or wrong for the company, profitable or not. 

The Cost of Making Decisions with Ego 

Think of all the meetings in which people are afraid to challenge the status quo, in which there is low participation, low ownership and accountability, little enthusiasm and energy, lip service,, thinking in linear terms, accepting the assumptions of old standards, no creativity and passing the buck. Count the hours of these meetings per month, include how many people on average attend a meeting, take an average salary, and calculate the cost of ego. Multiply this across the organization and the cost becomes frightening. 

Teams that are ‘sweating the ego stuff’ see the world as limited, polarized and threatening; they use black and white, either-or, right-or-wrong type of thinking. For them decision-making is about someone winning and someone losing, which excludes the possibility of integrativeand innovative solutions. 

Spirited Decisions are Profitable Decisions 

In spirited meetings the team members are not intellectually superior nor do they have higher education or greater experience. What they do have is the ability to take ego out of the equation. This frees them to have a spirited debate.  They have the courage to challenge themselves and each other. They challenge their outdated assumptions. Their dialogue is open, honest and respectfully confronting. Their interaction is enthusiastic and authentic. Their energy is high.  Because they have litle ego, they are able to look beyond themselves and scan the horizon for new possibilities. This enables them to discover what others in their market cannot see, which then leads them to make innovative and profitable solutions.

Create a Culture of Spirited Economics™

Instead of spending many thousands of dollars fixing the huge range of symptoms that our egos create, let’s go back and fix the problem where it starts - by teaching leaders, managers and their team members how to use spirit as a business asset - and manage their egos.

The Missing Link

I highly recommend that before an organization invests in leadership development programs, or team building initiatives, they first undertake a fundamental transformative initiative:

1.   Educate the leaders and their teams about the value of managing ego behaviors and replacing these with spirited behaviors

2.   Identify the spirited behaviors that will assist the organization icreate the kind of culture where talented people can thrive and produce remarkable performance.  (I recommend to all my clients that they identify only 4 core behaviors that will create a spirited organization/team. More than that are too hard to implement.)

3.    Decide on a measurement of success that will close the gap between current performance and ideal performance.

4.   Then teach the team how to manage ego and build spirited behavior.  These skills are described in my book, Who’s in the Driver’s Seat: Using Spirit to Lead Successfully.  (To purchase my book go to www.sandygluckman.com)

5.   Measure the success of the spirited behaviors. 

Spirited skills are easy to learn. The tough part is having the personal courage, self-confidence and humility to openly face the topic of ego and spirit as a leadership imperative with major economic implications. Ego is not a bad thing as long as we recognize how it shows up for us, when it shows up for us and how to keep it in check by replacing it with spirit. In fact just the act of being aware of our own egos automatically strengthens our spirited self.

**** Want to find out more about Dr. Gluckman and her seminars on Spirited Economics™ & 'Who's in the Driver's Seat? **** For a complete list of Dr. Gluckman's keynote topics and training programs please contact her at:

Phone: (972) 758-1246

Email: mail@gluckmangroup.com

Visit her website: www.sandygluckman.com