Editor’s note: Veteran entrepreneur and investor Donald Thompson is a regular contributor to WRAL TechWire. His columns appear on Wednesdays.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Throughout my career, here’s one thing I’ve learned about strong, sound decision-making: success lies in not only how the decision is made but also in its communication and implementation. Decision-making is a form of change management, and when you view it that way, you can more effectively navigate the predictable phases of the process for better and more sustainable results. 

As a leader, your core responsibility is to drive your team to deliver excellent business outcomes while maintaining a strong culture and high morale. An article from Harvard Business Review reminds us that, “At any moment in any day, most executives are engaged in some aspect of decision making.” That’s why it’s a business imperative to develop your decision-making skills and understand your own style. 

Of course, good communication is a key element in supporting your leadership success, and research from McKinsey shows that it may be the most important piece in “untangling your organization’s decision making process.” Yet, what I see from my personal vantage point as a CEO and an executive coach is that leaders too often and too quickly assume that people understand the changes that are happening and know how those changes will affect them in their role. 

Next time you’re tasked with any big decision, consider following this five-phase blueprint: discuss, direct, decide, document and deploy.

The first phase is focused on discussion.

Let’s say you’re hiring a new employee who will work on internal marketing for the firm. You and your team have a lot of ideas about their job description, tasks and targets. You have questions about the level of professional experience you’ll need in the role and who will handle the hiring process. All of these thoughts and questions should be presented in the discussion phase.

However, it’s important to understand and to openly communicate that asking and answering these preliminary conversations do not mean you have decided to fund and hire for the position. These are only the initial conversations that serve to inform your decision-making process. Remind your team that this is merely the discussion phase for brainstorming, but regardless of what you might discuss, you will not leave the meeting with a final decision.

In the next phase, pick a direction.

A direction is not a decision; it simply means that you are likely to move forward with some type of hire. When you are in the direction phase, you can begin to discuss specific details like timing, investment and reporting structure. You start to create a hiring strategy, firm up language in the job description and assign specific tasks to each group that is responsible for the decision.

You have still not yet decided on definitive action, but you are having a more focused dialogue around options. While the discussion phase is intended to brainstorm concepts and strategies, the direction phase is for building out scenarios. What are some of the different options you can choose from? For example, do you want to hire an internal resource or engage an external agency to handle your internal marketing needs?

Now, it’s time to make the decision.

Whether it’s tasked to leadership specifically or to the bigger group that’s involved, the decision must be made by someone with actual authority to make this call. When you make the decision, you should also outline a specific path forward, including timing, budget and any other critical parameters.

It’s important to understand and openly communicate that the act of making a decision doesn’t mean you will immediately proceed toward execution. It only means that you have decided. Any decision of consequence within an organization of size will need a rollout plan to ensure effective implementation.

In phase four, start to document your decision.

During this phase, be sure to capture answers to decision-critical questions. Who should be on the interview team? Who has the hiring rights to make the ultimate decision?  Are any new or updated processes clearly outlined for distribution to your team? This is also the time when you will draft more formal content to be used in the deployment phase. In this case, that means a job description, updates to the hiring process and the plans for posting the job opening.

Now, you are ready to deploy the decision.

During deployment, it is wise to expect questions and it helps tremendously to communicate why, how, and what you have decided. For a hiring decision, that may be as simple as communicating the need and the role. For more significant changes, you can expect more voiced concerns or even some push back. Be prepared with a formal announcement plan including a full team meeting, open office hours, and town halls. Make designated resources available to support your team through major changes.

By utilizing this five-step method, you can eliminate communication issues and minimize the volume and impact of mistakes that usually result from making siloed or hasty decisions. You can be confident that the best decision has been made and that you have the tools to properly articulate your reasoning and process, which is critical for the success of your decision.

If you’re facing a particularly difficult decision and want help navigating any of these five phases, I’m always happy to share my perspective. Reach out to me on LinkedIn.

About the Author 

Donald Thompson is a serial entrepreneur, public speaker, author, podcaster, and executive coach, recently named one of Forbes’ Next 1000: Upstart Entrepreneurs Redefining the American Dream. He is currently the CEO of Walk West, an award winning digital marketing firm, and co-founder and CEO of The Diversity Movement (TDM) a technology-driven diversity, equity and inclusion consultancy. He is also a board member for several organizations in healthcare, banking, technology, marketing, and sports, a Certified Diversity Executive (CDE), and a thought leader on goal achievement and influencing company culture. Learn more by visiting donaldthompson.com. We invite you to join TDM for a Virtual Privilege Walk tomorrow, April 1st, at 12:00 pm ET.