Why the Best Leaders Make Decisions Employees Might Not Like
By: Feris Rifai
Tags: Business, Entrepreneurship, Team Building, Entrepreneur, Startup

Why the Best Leaders Make Decisions Employees Might Not Like

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The Entrepreneur Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in America’s startup scene contribute answers to timely questions about entrepreneurship and careers. Today’s answer to the question “What qualities make an amazing entrepreneur?” is written by Feris Rifai, co-founder and CEO of Bay Dynamics.

Entrepreneurs must make sure they consistently bring the right leadership qualities to the table: optimism, enthusiasm, fortitude, curiosity, and courage.

During your entrepreneurial journey, there will be many variables you may not be able to control, including what your competitors are doing, where the macro-economic environment is headed, and whether the market is ready to absorb change. While you cannot control those external elements, you can control what leadership qualities you bring to the table. How you react to certain events shapes what happens next. You set the tone for your business.

You will face ups and downs — some expected, others unexpected. But no matter what craziness comes your way, you must be able to approach all hurdles as opportunities and spread your enthusiasm while doing so. If you are enthusiastic, energized, and optimistic, your team will follow suit. If you show your team that challenges open doors to improve what you’re already doing, your team will also seek those opportunities. If you act scared and overwhelmed, everyone else will act that way, too, bringing down their confidence that the organization has what it takes to succeed.

During the journey, your fortitude must not waver. Once you gather every piece of information available to help you make an informed decision, it’s critical that you move forward in a decisive fashion. Imagine you’re leading a team up a mountain where the fog is low. You may not be able to see the entire landscape ahead, but it’s critical that you use what you do know to keep pushing your team forward. That kind of fortitude will give your business the edge it needs to surpass its competitors. You cannot waste time being indecisive. You must look at what’s in front of you and move your team forward so you can get the job done — even if some information is missing.

Courage is critical. As a leader, you must have the courage to make unpopular decisions. You’re not doing your team any justice by making decisions based on popularity. You also shouldn’t try to convince people to like your decisions. Some of your employees may disagree with your decisions, and that’s okay.

At a previous company, I had to let go of an employee who was producing the highest revenue. While some managers and employees told me how much they disagreed with my decision, I knew it was the right one, and as I anticipated, the company ended up in a better place. Not only did other employees achieve even greater success, but many felt the decision validated the company’s commitment to its core values — fairness and integrity among each other and in our relationships with clients.

Be curious. It’s my job as the CEO to question everything. If you don’t ask questions every step of the way, you will lead yourself — and subsequently your team — down the wrong path because you won’t have the information you need to make good decisions. Also make sure you ask the right questions so that you can direct the conversation and open the communication channels for a healthy debate.

I recently asked my team how we continue to accelerate winning in an increasingly competitive market. This not only led us to closely examine our perceived current advantages, but it also forced us to test their validity and question their staying power. This one question ended up prompting a healthy debate that directed us to seek our clients’ perspective, which helped us realize the changes we should be making in order to make it more difficult for other companies to compete with us.

Finally, be a risk taker and encourage your team to take risks. This enables them to test new ideas. If they make a mistake, you should make a commitment to identify the right lesson(s) that can be learned from it. You want to show your team members that you care about their success, and encourage them to care about each other’s success. That includes cheering them on as they take on new challenges, and helping them see value in the mistakes they make along the way.

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