This is How Taking Shortcuts Can Lead You to Quick Victories

It’s easy to win fast.

Just take shortcuts 🤷‍♀️

As a leader, we’re faced with making quick decisions to solve urgent problems.

It’s tempting to go with the quick fix.

It can give you a win and momentary glory.

But it’s the long-term strategies that build resilient teams and organizations.

Below are 10 short-term wins that may look like a good idea, but could cost you in the long run.

✅ Short-term win - Hiring fast and filling vacant positions quickly. ❌ Long-term cost - Without the right vetting process it risks hiring people who are not fit for the culture or the role, leading to high turnover and team unhappiness.

✅ Short-term win - Not investing in training to save money today. ❌ Long-term cost - Leads to skill gaps, stagnation, and lower productivity in the future. Hinders the company’s ability to adapt and innovate.

✅ Short-term win - Keeping the team small and asking each person to do more saves money. ❌ Long-term cost - Leads to an overworked team, decreased job satisfaction, and burnout.

✅ Short-term win - Firing an underperforming team member to save costs. ❌ Long-term cost - Disregards any training potential and overlooks rehiring expenses and morale impact.

✅ Short-term win - Accepting high turnover from team members saves costs if they choose to leave on their own. ❌ Long-term cost - Increases recruitment costs and loss of company knowledge.

✅ Short-term win - Closing a new client with a quick discount. ❌ Long-term cost - Devalues the products and services. Clients may come to expect similar discounts in the future, potentially reducing profit margins permanently.

✅ Short-term win - Saving on any immediate costs in innovation. ❌ Long-term cost - Causes organization stagnation and loss of competitive edge over time.

✅ Short-term win - Having the team work long hours leads to high productivity. ❌ Long-term cost - This way is not sustainable. Teams burnout quickly, lowers productivity over time, and risks team attrition.

✅ Short-term win - Scaling quickly and to hit big growth goals. ❌ Long-term cost - Risks financial and operational stability.

✅ Short-term win - Over-emphasis on hitting quick profits. ❌ Long-term cost - Comes at the expense of customer satisfaction, resulting in churn, loss of client loyalty, and LTV.

These short-term wins may seem like a good idea today.

And honestly sometimes they are.

Just be aware of the trade-offs and long-term costs you’re making. And if you’re making too many, you may not be able to pay them off in time.

Now go make some good decisions 😉