Leaders have to make decisions in uncertain environments in which it is sometimes hard to know what to do (Schedlitzki et al, 2015; Nonaka at al, 2014). In these environments leaders must address “wicked problems” that they may not have seen before (Grint, 2005) which require refined judgement and ‘good’ decision-making.
To lead in this environment individuals and teams may use “guiding principles” to facilitate rapid decision making (Oliver and Roos, 2005; Oliver and Jacobs, 2007). There is plenty of business leader literature to support the use of guiding principles (e.g. Ferguson, 2016; Giuliani, 2003). This literature implies that defining a set of guiding principles aids effective decision-making.
Taking this evidence seriously (Guthey et al, 2022), this paper introduces my PhD research aimed at exploring how guiding principles are distilled and developed using a leadership development intervention – a guided reflection on practice undertaken by international middle managers during an MBA programme.