Decision-making is a skill. It is a life skill as well as a management skill. It can be learned and should be taught.
In HR we are in decision-making mode much of the time. Decisions of all sizes, many of which impact the business and in nearly all cases impact our employees. In so doing we should be prepared to make the required decisions, but also to communicate them clearly and succinctly. Just as importantly we must be prepared to justify them and to explain them. This is best done through open employee communications. We then must be prepared for challenge. This requires an openness to constructive feedback and a willingness to making changes. Our decisions, will please some, others will be indifferent, and more will be unhappy. All affected employees deserve the opportunity to have decisions explained to them. We as HR Leaders must commit to back up and justify our decisions, share our decision-making rationale and the logic used to arrive at our decisions. In so doing we may not always be popular but we will earn respect. Explanation is a key component of any worthy decision-making process for me.
Sean Kane