Photo Credits, Haroldo Watson

How do you tell the difference between a leader and a follower? Personally, I have always defined the two based on a simple question, who is making decisions and who is waiting for someone to make the decisions for them?

This doesn’t mean that every decision a leader makes is the correct one. I have found that the results of a choice I made were not what I had originally intended. But, because I learn from these situations, I add this wisdom to future decisions. The repetition of poor decision-making causes individuals to develop hesitancy to step into a decision-making role for fear of causing negative consequences for themselves and others. When an individual can learn, he or she is able to improve leadership skills.

Everyone is faced with decisions, all the way back to childhood. Which way do I want to go, which game do I want to play, which college should I attend, which job should I take and so on. As we get older, the decisions we make get more complicated, and the consequences of those decisions more important.

Effective decision-making takes practice. The key to successful decision-making is to have a process.  A leader must learn to take into account emotional, analytical and cognitive elements before deciding on a final choice. He or she must learn to craft a map of possible outcomes based on available options. Finally, the leader must be able to evaluate the success of the decision based on the outcome, and determine if there was different option that would have yielded better results.

What is the best decision you have ever made?

What is the toughest decision you had to make and what did you learn?

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