The Tough Decisions Leaders Have to Make

The Many Jobs of a Leader

Every day leaders are expected to be the protectors of core values, culture designers, strategists, visionaries, planners, coaches, mentors, motivators, empathetic listeners, priests, councilors, parents, teachers, and the list goes on.  However, one of the jobs that all leaders have, and most avoid, is the one where tough decisions have to be made about people.

The Main Job of a Leader

Your job as a leader is to drive revenue through team member engagement and customer satisfaction while keeping a close eye on costs.  It is through attention to this set of priorities that profits are achieved… and this is where tough decisions come into play.

1. Tough Decision Number One… Driving team member engagement. This is all about ensuring that the core values of the organization are protected and brought to life every day. Team members need to be recruited and retained based upon their ‘fit’ with the values of the organization.  This is the root of your culture and it is culture that will make or break the businesses’ success.  Team members that do not fit with the values and culture need to go. People who don’t fit the culture may have outstanding skills and they can be nice people; however, keeping them around will erode the culture, customer satisfaction and eventually, profit.
2. Tough Decision Number Two... Strategy alignment. In the world of entrepreneurialism, cool ideas for business and growth abound everywhere.  The leader’s job is to keep the team focused on the core purpose of the business and the key strength in the marketplace.  New and exciting ideas are often distractions that only succeed in lowering the team’s effectiveness in their ability to deliver.
3. Tough Decision Number Three... Bad customers. If you do the digging, you will most likely find that 20% of your customers deliver 80% of your profit.  Within the other 80% of your customers, there are some that you lose money servicing them and… they are usually a pain in the ass.  Do your team a favour and fire them as customers.
4. Tough Decision Number Four... Spending money when times are tight.  It is a paradox that one of your focuses is to control costs, yet when times are tight you may need to spend money to invest in the business.  Investment decisions need to be around people – like training and development – so that your ability to deliver outstanding customer value is always what customers see.

And the hardest thing about tough decisions is that you need to make them swiftly.  Delaying what needs to be done will only exasperate the problem that needs to be dealt with.

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, International Keynote Speaker, and TEC Top Speaker of the Year for 2018. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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