Indecision is a Terrible Thing. Or is it? I Can’t Decide.

Following up my post on the 3 Ds of great leadership, I wanted to delve a bit more into the first of the the 3 Ds – Decide.

One of the things I have seen in my corporate career that has baffled and frustrated me far too often is when leadership can’t or won’t make a decision. I know you’ve seen it too. 

I rarely saw this in my Navy career. 

But in the corporate world, that was one of the first things I noticed – leaders afraid to make a decision. So, knowing that I came from a more regimented culture, I asked around to find out why.

I was told many things: 

People’s jobs are on the line. 

Or, politically, that person does not want to make the decision to go in a certain direction. 

They are afraid to disagree with someone. 

They are afraid of the potential dangers of a certain decision. And the list goes on. 

I was astonished. I thought that making a decision was, in part, the job of a leader. 

I can tell you that in the Navy there was never situation like ‘Oh, I don’t know, Admiral, I just don’t know enough about the target area to decide on the best way to attack it’. 

That would have gone over like a submarine with screen doors.

Leaders are supposed to make decisions. That's why they were put in a leadership role.

They make decisions on how to grow their business, what their business strategies are, whom to hire, whom to fire, whom to promote, which companies to partner with, which opportunities to pursue, etc. 

But as I said, far too often I have seen decision paralysis seemingly be the norm, and I’ve seen it at all levels of the food chain. This is one of the areas, as an executive/leadership coach, that I work with my clients about.

If you’re a leader of anything, you have to make decisions. 

Sometimes those decisions may be that there is not enough information to make a final decision. 

Then make the decision to gather the required information and set a time to get back together and factor that new information into a – Decision.

Here’s a simplified way to go about doing this. 

Define the issue that needs a decision. 

List your options. 

Discuss those options and take the inputs from your team. Make them part of the process. 

You probably didn’t get to the position of leadership because you were stupid, so use your intelligence and that of the team that surrounds you. 

Now weigh the possible outcomes. All decisions will have consequences good and/or bad. 

Once you have done all of this, make the decision you feel is best. 

Then go with it.

Not every decision will be right. You will make incorrect decisions and your people will too. 

But as leaders, you have to get away from the Zero Defect mentality that seems so pervasive. 

You know, one mistake and you’re gone! I've seen that happen all too many times. And good people were sacrificed at the altar of perfection.

I’ve learned more from the mistakes I’ve made than the first-try successes. 

Let your people learn from them too. I am not talking about gross or willful negligence, but we can all learn from honest mistakes.

So make a decision and monitor your progress. If the information you have changes, then adjust course where/when necessary.

Don’t let indecision paralyze you or your business. 

There is an axiom that was true in the military and it is just as true in the corporate world….

Lead, follow or get out of the way. But make a decision!

For more information about how The Cobalt Group can help you with leadership development, or any business or leadership challenges you are facing, Contact us.

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