One of the more important tasks that managers face is making decisions – short-term, long-term, reactive, strategic, technical, critical or mundane – they come in all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, according to research data, it appears that many employees tend to have a less than stellar opinion of the soundness of the decisions made by company leaders:

Leaders of organizations, as well as government leaders, need to be mindful of the importance of making clear-cut, well thought-out decisions. Unfortunately, many organizational leaders do not do a particularly good job of this. Our research shows that only one out of two employees believes the leader of his organization makes sound decisions (emphasis mine).

Good decision making is especially important during these challenging economic times, as leaders are being called upon to make big decisions about reducing costs, identifying new strategic directions, and whether to implement previously planned investments in the future.

If employees trust their leaders and believe they make sound decisions, they will follow them even when they don’t agree with their decisions. The key is that they believe their leaders can provide them with a clear, consistent direction. (Bruce L. Katcher, PhD. “When Leaders Waffle, Confidence Plummets.” AMA Leader’s Edge. May 2009.)

According to this research, only half of employees believe that company leaders make good decisions! While that is plenty scary, it would be even more interesting to find out why employees feel that way. Consider these possibilities:

• Decisions are inconsistent with each other
• Decisions are not consistent with corporate values
• Decisions are not consistent with corporate mission or objectives
• Decisions are self-serving
• Decisions show bad judgment
• Decisions fail to consider all factors or circumstances
• Decisions are made without consulting key players involved
• Decisions are all too often wrong

As you can see, there are many reasons why employees might not trust the decisions of their leaders. For a leader to gain that trust, his/her decisions must be consistent with the company’s objectives and values, include the opinions of critical players (where applicable), reflect sound judgment, and lead to success the majority of the time.

Communication is as Important as the Decision Itself

However, assuming your decision-making skills are solid, one item that is often overlooked in the process of making decisions is the communication of those decisions. Organizational trust can be eroded by poor communication of a decision almost as much as a poor decision itself.

This is particularly true if your decision creates changes for anyone. One of the more common mistakes in decision-making is to fail to consider every department, employee, and task that may be affected by your decision. The failure to communicate then creates a mistrust with the affected employee – how much depends on your previous history and your willingness to admit the mistake, no matter how small.

Don’t just work hard to make good decisions; work hard to communicate those decisions to all involved. One good technique is to simply put a sticky note on your computer that says, “Did you communicate to everyone involved?” That reminder can save you a lot of problems down the road….