Making decisions can be hard. Every leader wants to be right. All of the time. The savvy ones know they are fallible. Only fools fail to second-guess themselves. Doubt, while annoying and irritating, can be a leader’s best friend. When a leader hesitates, pausing to consider the assumptions as well as the options, she is doing what the organization needs. Too much hesitation leads to organizational paralysis. Deliberate thought, together with counsel from trusted sources, is prudent.

Leaders  can only draw comfort from the “best decision” concept after they have done the prep work. Big decisions are seldom made on a whim; they must be pondered, debated and deliberated. Plans are then put into place so that people know how to implement the decision. Such prep work can take months or weeks and it can be painful to do. Then when the final decision is put before the boss he or she makes the decision, and lives with the consequences.

There will always be push-back. Some will second-guess a decision even when things go well. And if things go poorly, then people will point fingers. How a leader responds to the second-guessing is a measure of his ability to withstand pressure. Knowing in your heart that you made the best call you could make at the time forms a foundation for going forward.

While taking decisions a leader does not have the benefit of hindsight. Leaders act on the information they have now, backed by the trust they have in people around them. For a leader deciding whether to sign off on a major deal, the start up of a new product, an investment in research or even the selling of a product line, history is yet to be written.

The leader has only her gut to trust. And when she can look into the mirror and say she made the best decision possible at the time then that is all you can ask.

Adapted from John Baldoni‘s blog Trust Your Gut When Making Decisions.