Alternative Solutions To Leadership Decision Making

There are several critical components a leader must consider during the decision making process if he/she expects the school/community stakeholders to support whatever he/she decides is the best course of action to take. Some leadership decisions are fairly easy to make because certain legal aspects or board policy is the only alternative, or the decision is clearly the best thing to do for students. However, there are time when deciding what to do is not so easy. There are times when a leader has to choose a course of action from several alternative solutions some of which may have only subtle differences. In addition, there are times when it may seem a good solution does not exist. These kinds of troublesome situations put the leader in a very difficult position indeed! Arriving at a decision that others will support or at least accept can be made somewhat less contentious by understanding some of the factors that typically influence a leader’s decision. If he/she doesn’t know the personal factors that …show more content…
But be aware: Whenever a leader chooses one of the three alternatives under consideration he/she may be tempted to select the simplest solution instead of one with more complexity. The fact that one solution is easier to comprehend than another does not mean that it is the best one. Selecting the simplest alternative solution, especially when it doesn’t address the root cause of a problem can make a leader look weak, ineffective or worse incompetent. A leader needs to carefully examine each alternative solution closely - through an ethical lens to determine - which one is the best fit to help resolve a problem. One way to accomplish this outcome is to render each alternative solution to its simplest form before deciding what to do. A decision grounded on ethical considerations makes the solution easier for all concerned to understand and