One of the hardest lessons you learn as a referee is that you rarely get 100% certainty.

You see the play once. You process what happened. Then you make the call.

Leadership isn’t much different. The longer you wait for perfect information, the more likely the decision starts making itself for you.

1️⃣ Know When You Have Enough Information

There’s a difference between needing more information and wanting more reassurance. At some point, another meeting, report, or opinion isn’t going to make the decision easier.

Real-Life Example:
A referee can’t stop the game and ask three other people what they saw. We gather the information available: positioning, contact, timing and decide whether we’ve seen enough to make the call.

2️⃣ Put a Clock on the Decision

Open-ended decisions invite overthinking. Give yourself a deadline: I’m making this call by Friday. Or sometimes, I’m deciding in the next 10 minutes.

Real-Life Example:
On the court, the clock creates urgency for everyone, including the officials. In business, creating your own decision clock prevents something that should take a day from eating up three weeks.

3️⃣ Practice Making Smaller Calls

Confidence in big decisions gets built through repetition on smaller ones. Make more low-risk decisions quickly, evaluate the result, and adjust.

Real-Life Example:
Officials don’t develop confidence for a championship game during the championship game. It comes from thousands of smaller calls made long before the pressure gets that high.

Final Whistle

You don’t need certainty to move forward. You need enough information, a deadline, and the confidence to make the best call available to you.

Because leadership isn’t about always getting the call right.

It’s about being willing to make the call.

3 Calls to Make This Week

• Enough: Identify one decision where you already have the information you need.

• Clock: Give one lingering decision a deadline.

• Reps: Make one small decision faster than you normally would.

Go Make The Call!

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David M. Posner, MBA , founder of 3 Point Care Consulting is a highly experienced Leadership Consultant and a nationally recognized speaker. With over two decades of expertise in the leading companies, David has been instrumental in providing valuable insights and innovative solutions to address any industry's pressing challenges.

Learn more visit: www.TheDavidPosner.com