“How can I be sure if this is the right decision?” was an all-important question from a leader I had the honor to mentor and coach. In fact, the decision he was questioning was a life changing decision. Uncertainty left him paralyzed and unable to move forward. During a four-mile hike through forested hills, I coached him on managing his uncertainty in order to gain clarity.
Rarely do we have the ability to be completely certain about our choices. We do not have control over the people and circumstances that affect the choices we make. What we can do is learn to manage uncertainty in order to gain clarity and move in a positive and forward direction. This is the key to all good leadership, especially self-leadership. The following is more insight provided from the chapters on clarity in Andy Stanley’s, Next Generation Leader.
The inherent task of a leader is to navigate people on a journey of uncharted territory.
What we can do is learn to manage uncertainty in order to gain clarity and move in a positive and forward direction.
Know Your Certainty Percentage. Some people are more risk tolerant than others.
A Simple way to find your Certainty Percentage: A successful decision in the past required 90% percent certainty before you to pulled the trigger. A past unsuccessful decision was made at 50%. Your certainty percentage is somewhere between those two.
Seek counsel. Find people who have experience in making decisions like the one you are facing and ask them what they learned and the process they used to move forward. Seek counsel early and often and you’ll gain clarity faster.
Clarity of Vision. Clarity of vision compensates for uncertainty in plans. Most likely you are more certain about your vision (your preferred future) than your plans (how will I accomplish this vision). The convergence of plans and decisions is where you face the greatest uncertainty. One way to manage this is to keep score based on progress in fulfilling the vision rather than assessing whether you did everything according to plan.