What is one of the worst decisions you have had to deal with in the work environment?

“If the people who make the decisions are the people who will also bear the consequences of those decisions, perhaps better decisions will result.”
John Abrams, The Company We Keep: Reinventing Small Business for People, Community and Place

We have all suffered the effects of poor decision-making by a boss. Often the bad decision was made in haste or without regard to the impact it would have on those who had to live with the decision.

What is one of the worst decisions you have had to deal with in the work environment? What was the short term impact? What was the long term impact?

ANSWER

Employees often seem to make mistakes; whether it is failing to document something important, tagging the wrong person when sending an email, or making a legal mistake that could potentially and significantly cost the company. In the workplace, employees seem to be one action away from making a mistake. Virtually every workplace is characterized by individuals and groups involved in decision-making (Ceschi et al., 2017), whether good or bad. I am no exception when it comes to making bad decisions. There was a time I made one of the worst decisions whose implications were sound. I remember making a decision, on behalf of the business, to invest in one of our main rival companies. It involved…