by Trey Barnett, Life in Long Creek
Which one do I choose? How do I do this? Why do I have to do it this way? Someone has to decide, and as the person in charge, that someone is YOU. But how do you make decisions? Better yet, how do you enable other people to make decisions? It all starts with your WHY. Your staff, your family, and your friends need a framework to know how to make decisions for you. If you want to empower the people in your sphere of influence, help them make decisions well by using your brand sheet, leading by example, and recognizing the fun in making decisions.
Utilizing a brand sheet, which compels you to align short-term and long-term strategic planning with your company’s mission, is one of the most powerful tools you can rely on. When people understand your motivation (mission) they can align their thoughts more closely to yours in making decisions. Life in Long Creek’s business mission is “To create space to experience community.” Therefore, when faced with a tough decision, we have instructed our staff to choose the answer that optimizes for our mission. This only works because we as co-owners also follow the same methodology of decision making.
We knew early on that we wanted our business to be a place of empowerment. In order to create space for others to experience community, we needed to create a place for our staff to experience community; therefore, we included our staff in our decision-making process over and over. Initially, this sucked–mostly because I had to give up control. However, over time, our staff has become proficient at making many decisions without having to consult us. This led to the biggest surprise of all, we were able to have more fun together and work as a team due to giving autonomy in decision making.
My staff saw how much weight I felt in having to make every decision. They wanted to take some of that burden. When I began to release that control and let others make decisions, I felt a sense of teamwork and community that I had not experienced before. Decision making became fun, not just for me, but my staff began to have more fun as well. (In fact, this paragraph is included because I let one of my staff members read this blog–they pointed out how much fun making decisions actually is!) Sure, I still experience the weight of responsibility, but I am not alone, I have a great group of folks to share the experience of decision making with.
Learning to make decisions well is a struggle for many people. For those of us that own and/or run a business, it simply comes with the territory. Start leading others to make great decisions by filling out the sample brand sheet below. It is a simple yet effective method of communicating your motive for making decisions. After that, start including a handful of folks into your decision-making process. You can start small, but you will find that including others actually relieves stress and opens your eyes to what others consider important. If you are having to choose between purchasing a bus, new PFDs, or replacing the roof of the bathhouse, let them see behind the curtain–let them see you put your brand sheet into practice (this will often reveal personal inconsistencies and allow you to finetune your mission / vision. Finally, start having fun. Making decisions as a team will change how you see everything. Sure, not everyone will want to make decisions, but others will begin to thrive in this new work environment! The most exciting part for me came when I realized that by leading others to make decisions well in our organization, I made better decisions myself.
download a sample brand sheet (AO members only - must login to access)
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BRAND SHEET
Mission:
Attributes:
Principle:
15-year vision:
10year vision:
5-year vision:
3-year vision:
1-year vision:
Questions to ask when making a decision: