One of the first lessons that I learned when I became a manager is that managing people is not a popularity contest. As a manager, you will be asked to make decisions on a number of different issues and while you want to get input from a number of different sources, in the end, you and only you weigh the pros and cons and reach a conclusion.

It’s bound to happen that some of those decisions may not sit well with all of your team – and when a team member comes to you with a concern, it’s easy to fall into the trap of second guessing your decision. No one wants to go out of their way to upset someone that they work closely with.

But if you did change your mind based on not wanting to upset a team member, what message are you really sending to the team? How do you gain their respect if they know that you may bow to whoever challenges you? I have found that while my team may not have liked every one of my decisions, in the long term, they came to understand why I made the decisions that I did – and that helped me to gain their respect as a leader.

Resist the urge to flip-flop on your decision in order to please everyone. If you truly have taken the time to sift through information to make a sound decision, you owe it to yourself to move forward with that decision. That’s leadership.