Making a decision can be very difficult in certain situations. This is especially prominent during time crunches, when ethical issues arise, or even when people disagree on what decision to make. At the beginning of my time as a Leadership Consultant, my tactic to decision making was to just make a decision as quickly as possible. However, I now know that many things need to be taken into consideration. The journey to coming to the best conclusion can be long and hard, so patience is a must.

Playing human foosball at the LEAD Office retreat 2015.

When a problem arises, the first thing to do is to pause and gather information. It is essential to have the expertise to formulate a solution so that a bad outcome will not ensue. Speaking to everyone involved in the situation is a good start. Hearing everyone’s side of the story or opinion is crucial for unbiased decision making. One thing to keep in mind while doing this is to not succumb to groupthink. In other words, it is important to stand up for your ideas instead of agreeing with the group.

I have learned that standing up for my ideas will not destroy the companionship of my team. Throughout my time working in the LEAD Office, my fellow Leadership Consultants and I have developed leadership workshops for many different audiences. Some of my team members like to take the easiest route in planning these workshops by repeating the same activities. On the other hand, I love to undertake the process of creating new activities. Even though the different audiences will not know if we have done the same workshop before, I know that we have, which is unsettling for me.

An example of this is the class I teach with my team called Emerging Leaders. Each week we teach the students a new core leadership value. While planning these classes I noticed that the marshmallow challenge (creating a tower out of spaghetti sticks and other materials with a marshmallow on top) was scheduled during the week of service. Our office is constantly using the marshmallow challenge to demonstrate how smart goals and teamwork are vital to completing a challenge, so I suggested that we prepare a different activity that will get the same message across. We finally decided that the students would make balloon castles, which was a new exhilarating activity that we all enjoyed. I proudly had the courage to stand out and suggest a new activity. This boosted my confidence because I was responsible for the amazing outcome.

I can now slow down my decision making process in order to hear other people’s opinions, consider the ethical dilemmas of the issue, and take responsibility of the ultimate decision. The Leadership Consultants of George Mason University’s LEAD Office have become a tightknit group of outstanding students who are more than able to solve problems efficiently, ethically, and professionally. Our team could actually be named “#1 Problem Solving Team of the U.S.” I am sad that we will part ways at the end of the year. However,