Making major decisions is part of leadership. What separates good leaders from average ones is not always the decision itself but how they prepare to make that decision. Before you commit time, energy, and resources, you need clarity. You need insight. You need confidence that your choice will move your team or organization forward.
Here are six leadership checks you should conduct before making any major decision. These checks will help you reduce risk, build alignment, and lead with purpose.
1. Check Your Purpose
A major decision without a clear purpose is like setting sail without a destination.
Ask yourself: What am I trying to achieve? This is more than a goal. This is the intention behind it. If your purpose is unclear, you will struggle to evaluate options or measure success.
Leaders who skip this step often confuse activity with progress. Purpose gives you a compass. It allows you to say yes to what matters and no to what does not.
When you define purpose, make it specific. “Improve performance” is vague. “Improve team productivity by 20 percent in six months” is actionable. Clarity here shapes clarity in every step after.
2. Check Your Data
You can rely on instinct, but you cannot rely on instinct alone.
Good leaders blend intuition with evidence. Before making a big decision, gather the data you need. This process does not require hours of spreadsheets or complicated dashboards. It means collecting enough factual insight to weigh your options confidently.
Here are three questions to guide your data check:
- What facts do we know for sure?
- What assumptions are we making?
- Where is our information incomplete?
This check will help you spot blind spots early. If you don’t know enough to answer these questions, pause. Taking time to gather information before you decide is not weakness. It is discipline.
3. Check Stakeholder Impact
Your decision will affect people. Some of them will be obvious. Others will be less visible until after you act.
A decision that benefits one group but harms another can damage trust. Before you decide, consider who will be affected:
- Your team
- Your customers
- Your partners or suppliers
- Your community
Map out the impact. Ask questions like:
- Who wins if this succeeds?
- Who loses if this fails?
- How will this change daily work or long-term plans?
This exercise keeps you grounded. A decision may make sense on paper but create friction in execution if you overlook people. Leadership is responsibility, and responsibility means accounting for impact beyond yourself.
4. Check Your Alternatives
Leaders who rush toward a decision often fail to explore alternatives. They see one path, and because it seems viable, they take it.
This is where strategic thinking matters.
Before you finalize a decision, step back and ask: What are the alternatives?
Do not limit yourself to obvious choices. Creative alternatives may reveal a better route. Sometimes the best decision is not the boldest. Sometimes it is the smartest.
Run a simple comparison:
- Option A: What are the benefits? What are the risks?
- Option B: Same.
- Option C: Same.
If you find that all alternatives lead to similar outcomes, that in itself is insight. Now you can decide with confidence.
This check prevents tunnel vision. It ensures you are not reacting but deliberately choosing.
5. Check for Bias
Leaders are human. We all have biases. These biases influence how we interpret data, how we hear feedback, and how we justify our choices.
Bias can be subtle and tricky to detect. Some common ones include:
- Confirmation bias: only paying attention to information that supports your initial view.
- Anchoring: overvaluing early information and not adjusting when new data arrives.
- Groupthink: avoiding dissenting views to preserve harmony.
Here is how to check for bias:
- Invite dissenting opinions early.
- Ask a trusted colleague to challenge your assumptions.
- Imagine the opposite of your current view and test it.
This is not about negating your perspective. It is about strengthening your decision by exposing it to pressure. When you test your thinking against opposing viewpoints, you reduce blind spots.
6. Check Your Readiness to Execute
A decision is only as good as its execution. You might have the right choice, but if you are not ready to implement it, the outcome will suffer.
This check answers a simple question: Are we ready to make this happen?
Look at three factors:
- Resources: Do you have the people, time, and tools needed?
- Capabilities: Does the team have the skills required?
- Alignment: Does the organization understand and support the choice?
If the answer to any of these is no, hold. You may still make the decision, but plan how to address the gap before you act. Execution readiness turns intention into results.
Why These Checks Matter
Leaders make decisions all the time. Some are small, some are large, some are urgent, some are complex. What matters most is not how quickly you decide but how well prepared you are when you decide.
These six checks act as your internal compass. They help you see beyond the surface, avoid costly mistakes, and move forward with intention and confidence.
In real leadership, decisions are not made in isolation. They intersect with purpose, data, people, alternatives, bias, and execution. When you honor each of these elements, your decisions become clearer, stronger, and more impactful.
Final Thought
Major decisions define leaders. They shape organizations. They influence outcomes that matter.
Taking time to run these six checks before you act is not a delay. It is a strategic investment in clarity, alignment, and impact.
Your next big decision will come. When it does, give it the attention it deserves. Do the work before the decision, not after.
You will thank yourself later.
