Leaders Light The Path

PODCAST EPISODE

Simplifying decision making

What a life hack from Tim Ferriss can teach us about simplifying decision making in teams … 

Read more thoughts on the art of communicating week-daily at https://michaelgerharz.com/blog

Transcript
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Tim Ferris who hosts one of the world's largest podcasts likes to say

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that he tries to make one decision that removes a thousand decisions.

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And it's easy to see why.

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For example, rather than to struggle each time you're standing in front

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of the candy aisle, it's much easier to decide that candy just isn't for

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you and skip the aisle altogether.

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Or that you only buy this chocolate brand or use that phone brand.

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Of course, for you it might be a totally different decision, but

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Ferris's point still holds true: Making a thousand decisions is actually

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exhausting even if they are small.

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So, whenever you can find a general rule for your actions, life gets

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a lot easier in that regard.

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But here's another perspective on that, because I think that what Tim

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Ferris uses as a life hack works even better for teams in a company.

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It can be super frustrating and totally exhausting when every decision

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escalates into a discussion about tiny details and different perspectives.

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When you as the leader become the bottleneck to level the ground

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and finally make the decision.

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Aligning your team and focusing everyone on a common mission takes this load off

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of yourself and of the team and makes life so much easier for everyone on the team.

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But it does more than that.

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If everyone agrees on a guiding star, the path you want to take together as a team,

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decision-making can become distributed.

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When it's obvious how a decision is made because it fits on the

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path that everyone has agreed to take and to walk on, everyone on

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the team can make that decision.

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What's required for that is to get clarity about that path, about what actually

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matters to us as a team and as a company.

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And then for you as a leader to communicate this openly and frequently.

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