The Vistage Decision Model connects our three-step decision dynamic with the critical decisions leaders make about the issues and opportunities of business optimization, their conscious approach to leadership, and the personal elements that comprise every decision. Making better decisions, supported by outstanding leadership that is driven by a solid core of leadership beliefs and competencies, creates the model for sustained growth and success. Every day, CEOs are faced with strategic and tactical decisions about their people, customers, operations and the financial health of the business. Our research shows the issues and considerations are similar for businesses of all sizes, but the individual nuances and context are unique to every business, forcing the leader to make difficult decisions to get to world-class results.
The model then incorporates the decisions leaders make about how they will lead. The notion of conscious leadership suggests leaders need to intentionally think about and decide how they will lead the organization. Like any discipline, there are core leadership components that are continuously being developed. Natural leaders may intuitively excel at one element or another, but world-class leaders recognize the importance of each element and how their continual improvement as a leader will generate increasingly better performance. The neverending evolution of the leader’s vision is brought to life by the strategic decisionmaking process synchronized and aligned across a culture that is capable and eager to execute.
At the core is the leader, the human engine that makes the decisions and drives performance. Leadership is a combination of attributes, behaviors and competencies wrapped around the individual. The best leaders are fully aware of their strengths and weaknesses as a leader and actively look to improve on their weaknesses and leverage their strengths. Personal wellness is the foundation for world-class leadership. Often ignored, financial, physical, mental and emotional wellbeing are essential for top performance and great decision-making.
The Vistage Decision Model provides a lens to observe and study leaders and the decisions they face. It provides us with a common language for discussing the issues and topics of business optimization, the disciplines of leadership and the attributes and behaviors of leaders. Our decision model connects decision-making and the role of the CEO with the business, leadership and personal decisions each leader makes in the course of growing their business and achieving their goals.
The Vistage Decision Model provides us with a framework to study, research and learn from world-class small and midsize CEOs, executives and business leaders.
It creates a foundation to identify, codify and amplify what world-class leadership looks like from their perspective. World-class performance follows as a result of leaders making good decisions about themselves as leaders, the disciplines of leadership they use to execute, and the facets of business optimization they focus on. Top performance is neither a function of luck nor individual greatness. It is always a function of good people making and executing good decisions.
Becoming a world-class organization is a conscious decision. It doesn’t happen naturally or easily. It’s a commitment to continuous improvement: improvements in business results, improvements in the leader’s ability to execute and improvements leaders must make to continue their personal journey to world class. The bar for world class is constantly rising.
Yesterday’s achievements are quickly forgotten as new goals, obstacles and opportunities demand new decisions. As hard as it is to become world class, it’s harder to maintain that status, as every day the market changes, competitors rise to the challenge and our own companies evolve. Being world class is a choice. Being world class is hard. World-class organizations learn how to make the right decisions at the right time.
Will your company be world class?
Only you can decide.
