Managing Results or Decisions

I had a very interesting discussion with an executive coaching client this morning about what to do about several managers not meeting their key performance metrics. Objectively, there were some pretty significant organizational/infrastructure constraints in play that affected their ability to get the job done. But one manager in particular did a particularly poor job in dealing with these constraints. It was my view that to merely evaluate that person on results would miss a true developmental opportunity to discuss the quality of the decisions that manager made along the way.

Better decision-making does not always guarantee better results. And there are times when the right decision still yields the wrong outcome. But by and large, I believe it's a stronger Leadership Move to focus more on staff's decision-making than just on their results.

Results end with the quarter. But the ability to make better decisions lasts a lifetime.