Leadership isn’t about having all the answers—it’s about making good decisions even when you don’t. As an authentic leader, your decision-making process becomes a cornerstone of your leadership style, directly impacting your team’s trust, performance, and growth.

The truth is, making good decisions isn’t about perfection. It’s about developing a consistent, authentic approach that aligns with your values while serving your team and organization effectively. Let’s explore the five quick steps that will transform your decision-making from reactive to strategic. Here’s 5 quick steps to making a good decision.

Why Authentic Decision-Making Matters More Than Ever

In today’s fast-paced business environment, young leaders face unprecedented pressure to make quick decisions. The temptation to adopt someone else’s decision-making style or follow cookie-cutter frameworks is strong, but authentic leaders understand that sustainable success comes from making decisions that align with their genuine leadership approach.

Authentic decision-making builds trust because your team knows what to expect from you. When your decisions consistently reflect your values and communication style, you create psychological safety that empowers others to contribute their best thinking.

Step 1: Ground Yourself in Your Core Values

Before making any significant decision, authentic leaders pause to reconnect with their fundamental values. This isn’t about creating a perfect moral framework—it’s about understanding what drives your leadership and ensuring your decisions align with who you are as a person.

Ask yourself:

• What principles guide my leadership approach?
• How does this decision reflect my authentic self?
• Will I be able to stand behind this choice six months from now?

When you ground your decisions in authentic values, you eliminate the internal conflict that comes from trying to be someone you’re not. This clarity accelerates your decision-making process and increases your confidence in the outcomes.

Step 2: Gather Information Without Analysis Paralysis

Confident decision-making requires the right balance of information gathering and decisive action. Authentic leaders don’t pretend to know everything, but they also don’t get stuck in endless research loops.

Set clear boundaries around your information-gathering process:

• Define what you need to know versus what would be nice to know
• Set a specific timeline for collecting input
• Identify the key stakeholders whose perspectives matter most
• Accept that you’ll never have 100% of the information

Remember, authentic leadership means being honest about what you don’t know while still moving forward with confidence. Your team needs to see you can make good decisions with incomplete information—because that’s the reality of leadership.

Step 3: Engage Your Team Through Authentic Communication

The best decisions rarely happen in isolation. Authentic leaders create space for their team to contribute meaningfully to the decision-making process. This doesn’t mean decision-by-committee, but it does mean leveraging the collective wisdom of your team.

Use these authentic communication strategies:

• Be transparent about the decision you’re facing
• Clearly communicate what input you need and when
• Ask specific questions that tap into your team’s expertise
• Create psychological safety for dissenting opinions
• Acknowledge the contributions that influenced your thinking

When your team feels heard and valued in the decision-making process, they become invested in the outcome. This engagement transforms your decisions from top-down mandates into collaborative solutions.

Step 4: Make the Decision and Own It Completely

After gathering input and reflecting on your values, it’s time to decide. Authentic leaders don’t hedge or create escape routes—they make clear decisions and take full ownership of the outcomes.

This ownership includes:

• Communicating your decision clearly and directly
• Explaining the reasoning behind your choice
• Acknowledging the trade-offs and potential risks
• Committing to monitor and adjust as needed
• Taking responsibility for both successes and failures

When you own your decisions completely, you model the kind of accountability that builds trust and respect. Your team needs to see that you’re willing to be held responsible for your choices.

Step 5: Build Others Up Through the Decision Process

The final step in authentic decision-making is using each decision as an opportunity to develop your team. Great leaders don’t just make good decisions—they create learning experiences that build the decision-making capabilities of others.

Consider these development opportunities:

• Involve team members in aspects of the decision process
• Explain your reasoning to help others learn your approach
• Delegate smaller decisions to build confidence
• Create post-decision discussions about what worked and what didn’t
• Encourage team members to bring their own decision-making challenges

When you consistently use your decisions to build others up, you create a culture where good decision-making becomes a shared competency rather than a single point of failure.

Putting It All Together: The Authentic Decision-Making Framework

These five steps work together to create a decision-making approach that’s both effective and authentically yours. The key is consistency—when your team knows your decision-making process, they can support it more effectively and learn from it more readily.

Remember, authentic leadership isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being genuine, consistent, and focused on serving others. Your decision-making process should reflect these same qualities.

Moving Forward: Practice Makes Progress

Like any leadership skill, authentic decision-making improves with practice. Start with smaller decisions to build your confidence with this framework, then gradually apply it to more complex choices. Pay attention to how your team responds and adjust your approach based on their feedback.

The goal isn’t to become a decision-making machine—it’s to develop a sustainable, authentic approach that serves your team and organization while staying true to who you are as a leader.

Your authentic leadership journey starts with the decisions you make today. Choose to be genuine, choose to be consistent, and choose to build others up through every decision you face.

For further thoughts: Harvard Business Review – Making Great Decisions Quickly (This link does require a subscription, but it is a great and very useful article.

What exactly is Authentic Leadership?