I have recently spoken with a couple entrepreneurs making tough decisions. As I have written before, it is helpful to gain perspective to make decisions and if you have to ask the question you already know the answer. By nature, tough decisions also mean you can’t make everyone happy. If you try and please everyone, odds are you will end up making nobody happy. Here are a few ways to manage making tough decisions.

Have vision and align to it

Hopefully you have already defined the vision for your company. As you ponder the right decision, apply the lens of which answer best supports the vision. In tough situations, the vision can be a guiding light or principle that helps you choose the better path forward.

Be transparent in decision and communication

In the absence of information, people will always assume the worst. Furthermore, hearing things via rumors or secondhand can lead to lack of trust in the decision maker. While there may be initial discomfort, I have found that while people may not like the decision, they can at least respect a leader who clearly articulates the decision and why they are making it.

Move forward

With tough decisions, it can be troubling to have groups of people that still want to argue the decision or not support its success. While there is a place for debating the decision early on, there is also a time to align and all support the team going forward. Be careful to ensure the team moves past the decision and into execution mode.

This doesn’t necessarily make decisions any less difficult, or that there is not another tough decision right around the corner. Rather, a good decision that the team aligns and executes is usually better than a great decision without alignment and execution.