You left me no choice....

How often do we have people in authority (parents, scouters, bosses, government) talk about having no choice when announcing an unpopular decision?

This point has been on my mind a lot lately as I am in the process of dealing with a internal disciplinary matter.  The volunteer in this case has clearly violated a number of conditions of their service and the simple answer is to boot the individual out as they left me no choice.  Or did they?

We always have more than one choice in any set of circumstances.  I could ignore the offence and hope it goes away, but that has ramifications for both myself and the organisation that I am unwilling to tolerate.   I could throw the book at the person, kick them out and as a consequence lose their potential value and future contributions to the movement.  I could rap them over the knuckles and provide support to get them back on the team page but that will require work and explanation internally.   I am sure you can also think of many other options I could consider.

As a leader you have the responsibility to mentor, train and develop those in your organisation. When you state as a leader that you have no choice, what you are actually saying is one of two things, either you don't like the consequences of the alternatives you have considered in responding to the offensive action, or you haven't bothered to spend the time and energy to find an alternative.

Own the decisions you make!

I will have to make a choice between the options I have seen or thought up, but at the end of the day I am choosing an action deliberately to (hopefully) achieve a greater goal.  When you send the message that you have no choice you are actually just letting others decide for you or shirking the responsibility of your role.

No-one said the job as leader was going to be easy or all sunshine and roses, but the right call today - even the thorny ones that come with lots of pricked fingers - is off far greater value in the long run. And never forget that with a little work you can often trim the thorns off.