Decisions, decisions decisions...….?
Andy Nicol
Decisions, decisions decisions...….?
If you have never made a mistake, you have never made a decision.
This is a mantra that Gregor Townsend adopted as a player and one that he continues to use as the Head Coach of the Scotland Rugby team. You must have the courage to know that some of the decisions you make will be the wrong ones but, with experience, they will become less prevalent.
This is as true in business as it is in International rugby and, indeed, most sports. In business we make loads of decisions, some big ones, some more minor and these decisions will be made based on our character, our judgement and the environment that we operate in. Decision making is often left to one person whether that be the stand-off in rugby or the CEO in business but, in both these environments, there must be a collective understanding that goes into making that final decision.
As soon as the stand-off calls a play whether that is Johnny Sexton or Owen Farrell, the other 14 players should know what they needed to do individually and collectively to execute that play successfully. This is the same in business. Once the CEO makes a strategic decision, the whole team should know what they need to do to deliver on this strategy.
To do this, there will be lots of other decisions that the individuals need to make to deliver on their part of the overall strategy and this is where the character of the individual will come in to play. Some might be more extrovert and choose to do something stretching whilst a more introvert character might play things a bit more safe. Both decisions are the right ones made by different characters.
Their judgement will come into play as well and this will be formed from their previous references and experiences. They will instinctively know that they made a similar decision in the past and this was what the outcome was. This can be a positive experience or a negative one; the key being, if it is a negative one, you do not repeat the decision and hope for a different outcome.
Learn from your mistakes is another saying that is thrown around all the time, but you can only learn from these mistakes if you are prepared to make them in the first place in sport and in business.
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