The Theory of Decisiveness: Ten Principles of Decisive Leadership

Leadership has many traits to enable and support. The author of this blog post covered many such traits in an earlier blog post. Reference may be made to the post, “Leadership Qualities and Skills: Opportunities, Challenges and Enigmas”, Strategy Musings, November 6, 2010 (http://cbrao2008.blogspot.in/2010_11_01_archive.html). Amongst such several traits, decision making, or decisiveness, is a key trait; so much so, decisive leadership is referred to as a distinct category of leadership. Decisiveness is the ability to take decisions quickly, resolutely and firmly. Decisiveness does not mean taking random or snap decisions. Decisiveness means, in a leadership practice, taking considered decisions. Leadership is all about converting a vision into reality through an organization, which requires decisions to be made by leaders all the time.

While there are several leadership styles, leaders are required to be decisive in all the styles. Only the style of decision making varies across leadership styles. One stream of thought says that apart from being focused and agile in decision making based on available information, one can be flexible (adaptive to situations), hierarchic (taking hierarchy based decisions) or integrative (taking into account multiple points of view). The first approach makes use of little or minimal information while the last approach tends to get weighed down by enormous amount of data and information. The other two fall in between based on the dynamics of context and the extent of hierarchy, respectively. While there could be other ways of linking decision making styles to overall leadership styles, decisiveness can be seen as being prompted by ten different dominant competencies.

Decisive by nature

Certain personality traits such as emotional dominance, self-belief, self-worth, social boldness and task orientation imbue certain leaders with a natural tendency to be decisive. Such people use internalized data and their personal predilections to make immediate and compulsive decisions when they encounter new situations or problems. They may not be intolerant but they will be certainly impatient. Such leaders are unlikely to retract decisions or retrace their actions. Their nature makes them pile up decisions on their teams in general. The unique nature of naturally decisive leaders is that they can be decisive even in the face of little information; a situation not too infrequent in real life situations.  It could turn out to be a big advantage in such situations.

Decisive by authority

Some leaders wield, and live by, abject power. Authoritarian leaders are almost like military generals; whether they have strategized their actions objectively or not, they make it appear that all their mandates stem out of their authority. They are very conscious of their formal and informal boundaries of power. Authoritative leaders struggle with millennial employees and knowledge workers but could excel in domains marked by wide and deep spans of control, like infrastructure projects by virtue of their resonant leadership. They are unlikely to be very collaborative but could excel when organizations are structured to clearly reflect boundaries of power and authority.

Decisive by intellect

Some leaders are very intellectually driven; they possess knowledge and respect knowledge-seeking. They look to validate the data they receive, the interpretations they make and the decisions they take through the knowledge they possess; and if they find the knowledge at their disposal to be inadequate they do not hesitate to collect additional knowledge to validate or modify their decisions. Their nature makes their decision making slow but they tend to make exceptionally sensible decisions in areas driven by intellectual matters such as product and manufacturing innovation, patenting and futurism. They could do exceptionally well in technology-intensive industries.   

Decisive by experience

Most leaders have loads of experience. Only some, however, make their decisions purely out of experience. Leaders who decide based on their experience are visualizers and extrapolators of what it takes to achieve a goal. Such leaders are well suited to taking follower firms on paths taken by pioneers successfully. Leaders of this ilk are pretty quick in decision making but could also be failing to respond to new situations due to their preoccupation with their previous experiences. They could be needlessly biased by their experiences, both positive and negative. Most leaders are likely to belong to this class, thinking and behaving through their prior experiences.

Decisive by intuition

Intuition is one of the important hallmarks of successful leadership. Leaders are able to stand by their visions mainly due to their intuition. Leaders acting by their intuition may be intellectual, experienced and task oriented but they may not using any of these faculties unless they feel intuitively supported. Such leaders surprise their teams as well as competitors with their intuitive decisions, which not surprisingly pan out fruitfully. The author has posted a perceptive post on intuitive leadership earlier: ”Educated and Experienced versus Instinctive and Intuitive: From Conflict to Synthesis of Four Leadership Essentials”, Strategy Musings, May 10, 2015 (http://cbrao2008.blogspot.in/2015/05/educated-and-experienced-versus.html).

Decisive by goals

Goals are the critical drivers of company performance. Leaders who swear by goals tend to be obsessively focussed and occasionally missing wood for the trees, especially when business contexts keep changing. Such leaders are appropriate to drive turnaround as well as growth in stable economic environment. Such leaders are unlikely to be respectful of lead times required by diligent processes.

Decisive by incentives

A whole lot of leaders belong to this category. With emergence of variable pay, performance bonus, profit commissions, stock options, and long term incentive plans as new ways of incentivizing leadership performance, leaders tend to take decisions and pursue actions which are incentive friendly. Leaders belonging to this class tend to take speedy decisions and be oriented towards short and medium term. Such leaders tend to excel in turnarounds and priming growth stories. Per contra, it is unclear if such leaders help companies build long term value in their businesses.

Decisive by process

Leaders who still have strong legacy of structured management stand profoundly committed to processes. They believe in structured planning, guided execution and programmed management. For them, process integrity is paramount; they believe that right results follow right processes. Process oriented leaders particularly excel in quality and compliance oriented industries such as pharmaceuticals, food processing and semiconductors. Process oriented leaders also excel in ensuring high standards of corporate governance in their firms.

Decisive by recognition

Some leaders are inspired by the opportunity to carve a place for themselves in halls of fame. While they are driven by some of the various faculties and traits described above, and are motivated by goals and incentives etc., they are literally actualized by the potential of standing out in the crowd of leadership. Dhirubhai Ambani, who established the Reliance Group, belongs to that rare breed of entrepreneurs who liked to leave a legacy of bringing equity culture to the common man, dwarfing all other Himalayan achievements of his.

Decisive by people

And finally, there are leaders who are decisive standing by the people. Mahatma Gandhi is the unparalleled example of leadership dedicated to people, and seeking final fulfilment in serving people. Socio-economic equity, social harmony and equitable distribution of wealth are their primary drivers. Nelson Mandela. Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda are other notable leaders of this worthy, and hard to follow, leadership. Eminent entrepreneurs like Jamsetji Tata established industries to generate employment.

Leadership mix

Just as no two businesses are identical, no two leaders or two leadership styles are also identical. Logically, multiple businesses require multiple leadership styles; the same business may require different styles in various phases of evolution. All of the ten decisiveness templates discussed are appropriate in one context of the other. Admittedly, being decisive is only one, albeit very important, link of the leadership value chain. Anticipating, evaluating, interpreting, deciding, detailing, resourcing, aligning and executing are the other links of the leadership value chain. It is worth noting that all the other links too entail decision making in one measure or the other. A major responsibility of a leader is not only being decisive but also ensuring that the rest of the organization is decisive. Individual leaders always find it a challenge to tackle institutionalized indecision. Optimal leadership mix  lies in ensuring that autocracy and authoritarianism are not deployed to break indecision or discussions and debates do not stymie decision making.

Leaders should not only set the tone but also utilize a whole set of traditional corporate structures and systems to reflect a culture of decisiveness throughout the organization. Structures such as executive committee meetings and processes such as strategy and budget reviews can be utilized by leaders to demonstrate how it pays to be decisive. Decision oriented dialogue, rather than either hypothesis or theory oriented discussion, is a great way to embed a culture of decisiveness in an organization. Boards and Founders who select leaders, internally or externally, must be savvy to select leaders whose decision making style matches the business context, in each case. A seasoned leader must also recognize that he has as many as ten great endowments in him or her to be decisive. By selectively and contextually deploying them he would make great contributions to a firm.

Posted by Dr CB Rao on May 09, 2016

Twin Track Travel in Life: Aligned Harmony or Oscillating Freeze?

Choice is a wonderful and important thing in life. Classical economic theory brought out the many imperfections of lack of choice through its analysis on monopoly. Governments, societies and individuals believe that choice and competition are in the best interests of consumer. In the ordinary course of life, an individual is beset with choices. One has to open an Education page of any Indian newspaper to see how the students are wooed by multiple options in education, from specializations to countries. Even a simple thing as dining in restaurant is not easy given the multiple individual and combo options that are made available. On a serious note, however, the individual has a right to, and responsibility in, making prudent choices so that the individual and those dependent on the individual benefit from the choice made.

My earlier blog post (Strategy Musings, February 28, 2015) titled “Deliberation, Information, Decisiveness and Implementation (DIDI) Model: A Logical Pathway to Progress in Multi-Option Life” (http://cbrao2008.blogspot.in/2015/02/deliberationinformation-decisiveness.html) articulated a model to progress in life. It suggested that individuals need to understand the true meaning and the essential relevance of deliberation, information, decisiveness and implementation as the four components of an accelerated journey of progress in life.  The post also observed that despite the logic of such an approach requiring high deliberation based on quality information and quick decision making followed up by quick implementation, even intellectually capable people tend to vacillate or freeze in life because of digressions they encounter in their paths of progress.   

Choice or chance?

In today’s world where information is overwhelming, and either certification or branding is common, there is apparently scope for perfect (or near perfect) choice. This need not necessarily be true. On may choose a good educational institution for study but the class to which one may be assigned could be random while the quality of teachers and friends could be even more random, with positive or negative results relative to others. One may choose an international travel plan with thorough research on the likely weather conditions but it could be beyond one’s choice as to whether an airlines management would or would not cancel flights for a particular level of storm. In life, choice and chance arguably play unpredictable roles, influencing the journey on path of progress.

Many times, a chance occurrence can cause dramatic transformations in the life of an individual or even nations. Nothing illustrates this better than the treatment meted out to M K Gandhi in rail travel at Pietermaritzburg station, South Africa on June 7, 1893 that transformed Gandhi’s life goal and eventually changed the course of history for India. In our lives, we do meet persons or pass through institutions that offer game changing opportunities. In some cases, well laid plans including established career options turn out to be adversarial. Chance in all such cases has to be coupled with choice to be able to overcome the adversity or utilize the opportunity provided by chance. When chance is met with by choice, the individual has to be resolute and diligent to embark on the new path with determination.

One step but long track

In several cases, the step one takes at the junction-in-time of chance and choice tends to have far reaching consequences. What appears to be one small step would roll out to become a long track. Perseverance and patience are the key; even if the track turns out to be different from what one envisaged, it would make sense to wait for the next time-junction of chance and choice rather than make hasty changes. In life, the same goal can be reached in multiple ways, and the fact of being compromised on a route that is not entirely of one’s choice need not deter one from switching tracks at a more appropriate time. Well thought out or opportunistic switches from one career to the other, or between work and education help one reach the desired goals, despite false starts. 

Equally, not being patient and persevering could make people lose whatever value that is inherent in a path. Traders in commodities and stocks who are impatient tend to end up losing the corpus let alone making money. Yet, sophisticated algorithms and predictive tools provide a false sense of security for shorting the future. Emotional stability and contextual equanimity are two oars one has in navigating the choppy waters of progress. This requires that being reflective and introspective as well as being thoughtful and mindful is essential whether or not one is on a preferred track. Action or implementation is physical and tangible while thinking or deliberation is virtual and fleeting.

The tracks

An individual has two important tracks to move on; the first is the implementation track which is real, physical and tangible, whether one likes it or not. The other is the deliberation track that is virtual, mental and emotional, whether one desires it or not. As considered in the earlier blog, deliberation track makes one get on to the implementation track. However, the deliberation track keeps on working even when one is on the implementation track. It is up to the competency and maturity of the individual to use the deliberation track to the advantage of the implementation track. The deliberation track has to constantly evaluate if the implementation track is taking the individual closer to the goal or a momentum change within the track or even a track change is required, and if so the appropriate timing in each case.

Mahatma Gandhi said “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony” He also said, “A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes”. Albert Einstein said “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. These quotes by the greatest of leaders in humanity and science respectively teach us that the power of positive thought can help one achieve one’s life goals; probably even set the goals right. It is, therefore, of utmost importance that one gains mastery over the internal and intrinsic deliberation track. Whether one accomplishes that through the practice of meditation and concentration or continuous self-correction is something for the individual to mull over and follow.

Twin tracks

The above leads us to conclude that in the best way forward, the deliberation track is in harmony with the implementation track either acting as the way forwarder or course corrector. However, the deliberation track can be inhibitory, digressive, and sometimes even regressive. Consumer psychology is full of anecdotes wherein wayward consumer thought processes make for randomly repetitive purchasing behaviour of consumers. After a dish is ordered in the restaurant, the one ordered on the other table looks interesting. After a Samsung Galaxy is bought, Apple iPhone beckons for the next purchase. After one flight route is booked, another may look to be safer and surer. Deliberative waywardness may cause only minor dislocation in matters like these but could cause untold harm in more serious matters of life like education, career and family.

Dilemmas are not new to human life. Wanting to have everything is also a part of human life. The classic expression of “to be or not to be” by Prince Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet leads the pack on dilemmas. The human being desires to have the best of everything, at times illogically and at times greedily. The idioms “running with the hare and hunting with the hound” and “having the cake and eating it too” are strikingly descriptive of this innate characteristic of a human being. The culture of human evolution and the challenge of progress, however, require that the human being prioritizes what he wants and work towards achieving it. The ability to appreciate choice and chance on one hand and deliberation and decisiveness on the other hand is an essential part of the practice of human progress. 

  

Interfaces

There are four ways the twin tracks of thought and action can interface. These are Aligned Harmony, Delayed Delivery, Random Digression, and Oscillating Freeze.

The most effective one obviously is Aligned Harmony in which thought and action are harmoniously aligned to the goal. Some of the best inspirational missions of individuals like Mahatma Gandhi’s independence movement or Nelson Mandela’s anti-apartheid movement and technological missions of organizations, be it NASA Man on the Moon Mission or ISRO’s Mangalyaan Mission (India’s Mars Orbiter Mission) are accomplished under the Aligned Harmony format. This corresponds with a high deliberation-quick decision format.

Delayed Delivery is beset by nagging doubts on whether the route pursued is the right one but at the same time is handicapped by lack of alternatives. This erodes confidence and commitment in the route pursued. This corresponds with low deliberation-slow decision format.  Lack of deliberation and consequent facile decision making lead to tardy progress without commitment or belief.

Random Digression occurs when an uncontrolled deliberation track derails the individual to switch on to disruptively alternative action tracks. A researcher constantly in search of alternative hypotheses or research methodologies even while progressing on one hypothesis is subject to random digression. Achievement of goals can be highly sub-optimal for such individuals, relative to time and effort spent. This corresponds with high deliberation-slow decision syndrome.

And finally, Oscillating Freeze occurs when an individual (or organization) iterates himself (or itself) before accomplishing even the first milestone in each case. In this case, even as action track moves forward the thought track moves backwards. A student who does engineering course wishing all the time that he should have done medicine or a professional who has chosen a particular job wishing all the time that he should have joined the other firm. Such people freeze in their tracks every now and then as their heart and soul are not in what they are deployed on.

Individuals as well as organizations who appreciate and achieve aligned harmony between thought (or deliberation) and action (or decisiveness) understand the eclectic fusion of chance and choice in life, and the interdependence of thought and action, and therefore are made for sustainable success in a complex and confusing multi-option world.

Posted by Dr CB Rao on March 1, 2015