by Laura Camacho
As a communication coach to leaders all over this beautiful planet, my clients and I spend a great deal of time discussing how communication affects perceptions. In fact, one of my most important tasks is to help clients improve their self-perceptions so that they become more confident.
What is surprising is the role of decisiveness in how others perceive us. The ability to make decisions quickly is often difficult for women, and yet it is the skill that has great leverage to improve their business outcomes.
What keeps us from making decisions, from putting off these decisions, or by default allowing others to make decisions for us, is fear of making the wrong decision.
I’m sure you can look back a several decisions you wish you had made differently. But the undeniable reality is that you learned from those decisions. In fact, you would not be the person you are today if you had not made those bad mistakes.
There is a meme we often see in social media, some variation of the idea that it’s better to make decisions quickly, even if it ends up being a bad decision, than it is to wait.
It takes courage to make decisions. Decisions always have consequences. Failure at some level can even put us out of business.
There is a criterion you can use to decide quickly. If you make this decision quickly and your decision goes sideways, can you stay in business? Can you play another day?
That means you don’t risk your entire nest egg on a single product launch or marketing strategy. It does mean you continue to invest in different aspects of your business.
For example, let’s take the case of having to hire someone.
Don’t wait until you’re drowning to start interviewing people. Try someone on a part-time basis. Hire for a short term. Outsource a function to another company. If your business is a side hustle and you want to go full time, save money for at least six months of living expenses and then resign. (You can always find another job!)
Do what you want to make more decisions faster. That’s the only way you learn what you need to know in order for your business to succeed.
Laura Camacho, MBA, PhD, PMP, is an executive coach, trainer and speaker who opened Mixonian Institute in 2009 to rid the world of boring business communication. She has created innovative training programs for local and international companies, related to leadership effectiveness, excellent feedback, growth mindset and emotional intelligence. Multilingual, Dr. Camacho’s career highlights include facilitating The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (in Spanish,) being editor of the leading management newsletter in Venezuela. For 10 years she taught communication classes at ECU and College of Charleston. www.mixonian.com
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