States and Traits of High Consequence Decision-Makers (Wendy Samson, Curt Swenson, 2017)
Typically, when we think of high consequence decision-making, we envision firefighters running into a burning building, emergency medical teams at the scene of an accident, or military personnel headed into combat. What we might not realize is that top tier executives face similar consequences or “effects of error” in their leadership assignment and therefore, have to hone similar decision-making traits.
Effects of error for emergency medical teams, firefighters and military personnel include life and limb, it’s true. And yet a CEO ’s effect of error can be an employee’s ability to support their family, a senior staff members’ opportunity to retire without worry, a pregnant managers’ access to medical benefits, or the on-going health of a town’s economy – certainly no small stakes.
Examine your high consequence decision-making abilities using the following traits, with the understanding that these can be learned and honed in those seeking a top-tier assignment. Future-SYNC’s executive coaches can provide you with this training and mentorship on an individual basis, along with a decision-making process and metric that can impact your entire team!
Emotional Regulation – High consequence decision-makers see themselves not as victims or finger pointers, but as change agents who quickly shift to acknowledge that a situation is bad AND that they can actively seek ways to make it better.
Attentional Control – High consequence decision-makers pay the appropriate amount of attention to the relevant cues in any given situation. Though they have good analytic skills, they also respond intuitively to the significant patterns and cues they have noticed over time.
Calculated Risk-Taking vs. Impulsivity – High consequence decision-making requires a leader to have a bit of both, but to default to the calculated risk-taking type more often than not – in order to win at the long game.
Higher Tolerance of Ambiguity – High consequence decision-makers need to be comfortable with not always having perfect or complete information to make a decision. Leaders that are hyper-analytic have a limited trajectory.
For more information on becoming a good decision-maker, contact the executive coaches and seminar leaders at FutureSYNC International at (406) 254-2326 to schedule an appointment!