Choose Your Battles Carefully
Leaders are often given the advice to pick their battles carefully. As leaders continue to grow into bigger and more senior level roles in their professional career life, this becomes even more important. Fighting over issues and decisions that cannot be won or will cause reputational damage is not a good idea.
Experienced and inexperienced leaders are warned to distinguish between battles worth fighting and those that are best avoided. This can accelerate your professional career or in some cases, derail your career.
Because good leaders live by values and principles, there will always be battles to fight. It is critical to determine your personal core values and principles early on in your careers. The best leaders use their moral compass to guide them in both their personal and professional lives. Any action, decision, or policy that flies in the face of personal values and principles has the potential for being worthy of battle.
The best leaders allow five questions to guide their decision on whether to confront and wage war over a testy issue. The best case scenario is before deciding to engage in battle you would answer all five questions in the affirmative.
1. Will the outcome of the issue have a lasting impact on you or others you care about? This means the level of significance is big and has the potential to influence related and unrelated matters for an extended time. If the long-term impact is unclear or will likely fail to register an enduring seismic shift in your department or company, then the battle is best avoided.
2. Will winning the battle lead to positive change? In deciding to fight, the leader needs to believe strongly that the result will lead to growth, learning, and change that benefits nearly everyone in the company. This means envisioning what winning will look like and believing it will make a positive difference in people’s lives.
3. Will the battle produce only short-term fallout regarding the people involved? The conflict will undoubtedly bother some people and make others highly uncomfortable. The question is, for how long? In time, will others get over the battle or is it likely the confrontation could result in long-term ill will? If winning the fight will permanently undermine the leader’s reputation, then the best answer is usually to skirt the issue or to deal with it more indirectly.
4. Do I have the time, resources, and support to fight this battle? Battles take time and resources. If a leader’s efforts are directed elsewhere and they can’t give 100 percent to fighting the battle, it will likely result in a costly loss. Internal allies also make the struggle much more palatable and winnable. Those who share your views can strengthen your stance and apply pressure to help win the day.
5. Is this the right time to wage this battle? Timing really matters when starting a fight. Smart leaders look for an opening instead of picking a brawl when the adversary is at their strongest. Waiting for a more favorable moment can lead to better outcomes and less fallout.
Only the leader can determine the answer to these questions and decide if an issue is worth escalating into a battle. Even if you are the owner, CEO, or President of the company, it doesn’t mean that your way is always the best way. Some battles or major changes organizationally are not the best way forward for many reasons. If you are going to lose the trust of your entire leadership team over this battle, is it truly worth fighting for? You need to answer that question first, even if you are the ultimate decision maker.
Good leaders pick and choose their struggles carefully while remembering the military adage, “Not every hill is worth dying on.” When it’s worth fighting for, nothing is more honorable or important to do.
Those leaders who commonly fight battles they shouldn’t, normally don’t survive to fight the ones they should. There are many leaders who got derailed in their careers and never recovered because of this. The next time a battle presents itself, stand back and ask yourself the questions above and then proceed accordingly.
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