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The Misunderstood Strategic Decision

The Misunderstood Strategic Decision

In a challenging decision-making environment, effective leadership hinges on transparency and the ability to communicate openly with teams. Segolene Finet and Guillaume Cribier emphasize the importance of leaders challenging their understanding of decisions to better explain them and foster trust within their teams. Acknowledging emotional responses is crucial, particularly during significant changes, as it helps mitigate resistance and fosters a more cohesive work environment. By integrating company values into communication strategies, leaders can navigate complex situations while maintaining team morale. According to Segolene Finet and Guillaume Cribier, embracing these principles is key to successful team management and career development. Discover more ideas and insights on leadership and team management in the full episode.

2026·Season 1·Episode 7Highlight
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Segolene Finet & Guillaume Cribier ·

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Transcription

00:09

Question 1.Faced with a strategic decision that's hard to understand, what should a good leader or manager do?

00:17

A: Follow the direction.B: Challenge.C: Protect.D: The Joker.

00:27

On this question, I'd say start by challenging.I'll go straight for the Joker, because for me it's about communicating with transparency — the fundamental quality.

00:50

Hello, Segolene.So happy to be here.Likewise.I chose challenge because in order to explain a decision well to your teams — especially if it's a difficult one,something people don't want to do or hear — you need to have truly understood it yourself and be sufficiently convinced yourself,or at least really have all the details,including what isn't told to you immediately when a leadership team makes fairly drastic changes.

01:20

So you need to challenge yourself in order to explain it better afterward.

01:24

But to use the word challenge — would you challenge, for example,your leadership on the decision itself, or is it really about challenging for understanding?

01:32

Sometimes yes — in the leadership committee you do challenge a decision.

01:35

Knowing that sometimes, when you challenge yourself as a leader, you may not be fully convinced and still have to accept a decision that you understand rationally?

01:49

I agree with you on the idea of truly...I took the Joker because there was something missing that I consider fundamental: communicating with transparency.

01:59

I'm convinced that teams need transparency,especially on decisions that can be a little sensitive.

02:08

They'll understand more readily if you communicate this transparently.

02:11

Already more people will get on board and will try to anticipate that shift in direction.

02:18

I agree with you on the principle of transparency,but in real life, how do you actually do it if you're not completely on board with the decision that was made?

02:29

That's a very good question.I think it's legitimate to say to your teams that sometimes there can be doubts.

02:36

But ultimately — especially when you're part of a leadership team — you can't start a mutiny by putting yourself at odds with leadership, saying: I have serious doubts,I don't fully agree, but we're going to do it anyway.

02:50

Right there, I think you already lose part of your team by doing that.

02:53

In the end, it really comes down to shared trust.So that's one thing I do.

02:58

And then the other thing I do when there are difficult decisions — particularly decisions I don't necessarily agree with — is that I tend to really focus on the emotional side of it too.

03:10

Because in reality, there's a mini grieving process that happens a lot,especially on the product side.

03:14

The product roadmap changes, you're abandoning a great investment — a really great product that the team had worked on — but it just doesn't meet a market need, etc.

03:22

So there's a real need to take people's emotions into account,not just be in corporate robot mode: That's it, this product, we're cutting the product line, bang, we move on.

03:32

And then wonder why people

03:39

rarely ask questions.Question two: in a rollercoaster environment, what is the real key