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And so on. All of the challenges surrounding the use of such “soft skills”
as conflict resolution, negotiation, team building, and communication play
a key role in judging the organization’s members and their ability to
contribute to the effectiveness of the organization.

Successful judgments in general depend on how well the leader manages
the whole process, not just the single moment when a decision is made.
141
In fact, as was previously stated, hasty judgments often lead to poor
results. A leader, therefore, should go through the process of recognizing

the need for a judgment, clarifying the issue, pulling the necessary
resources together, making sure the sources of information and advice are
engaged, and then weigh or rate all the options in order to make a good
judgment call. Then the leadership must make that judgment at the right
time, and follow through on the implementation to make sure that the
outcome turns out as well as possible.

The preparation for making a judgment begins with humility, which has a
couple of key elements. First, humility calls for recognizing and accepting
the reality that we don’t know everything. It is easy to fall into the trap of
thinking that we as individuals are more important than the organizations
or institutions that we work with. Successful leadership preparation also

involves recognizing the need to serve others instead of pushing them to
do what you want from them.

This issue of humility and self-awareness is important. One of the key
drivers in making decisions and exercising good judgment is an
individual’s own set of values, which is that set of deeply held beliefs about
what is good, right, and appropriate. These values are deep-seated and

remain constant over time, guiding us in our daily actions both personally
and professionally. 142 Therefore, it is important to be clearly aware of one’s
values as they impact judgment. An effective and credible leader will be
someone who is able to successfully balance his or her individual and
organizational interests based on these values. For example, someone who

141 Noel Tichy and Chris DeRose,“Leadership Judgment: Without It Nothing Else Matters,”
http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/58085/277_ftp.pdf;jsessionid=860E1F74F5511FF
8D2C74BA259679CCD?sequence=1.
142 OPP’s blog, “The Importance of Good Judgment,” http://www.opp.com/en/about-
opp/blog/2011/october/the-importance-of-good-judgement.

David Kolzow 121