Make Decisions

A very smart entrepreneur once said something about making decisions that makes more sense every time I think about it. He said: “Either you make decisions or they will be made for you. If others are making the decisions for you, they control the outcome.”

Two principles which point out the importance and urgency of decision making are: (1) The longer we postpone a decision the more difficulties it creates; the further we get from the decision, the easier it is to be distracted by other things which sap the creative energy needed for decision making. (2) Each time we postpone a decision, we change the arena for making it. Time does change the terrain.

When the decision needs to be made but is postponed, circumstances will change. The leader who hesitates too long over decisions slows the momentum of the entire firm. The leader who is too slow to make decisions creates a ripple effect that stifles creative energy.

Here are six scenarios for failing to make decisions:

1. The Postponement Ploy Postponement is not something that just happens. Postponement is deliberate. We must think about it, plan it and then expend time and energy implementing it.

Why do people go through this when all they have to do is make the decision and move on? As I see it, there are five reasons for this type of procrastination: fear of choice, lack of information, the need to be liked, lack of inner confidence and fear of change.

2. Fear Of Choice Roberta has this problem and puts it this way: “What if I make the wrong decision? What if I decide and the decision is wrong? I can’t handle making mistakes. If I think it could be wrong, I would rather not do it.”

That’s a frightening way to live. The fear of making a mistake creates a world filled with doubt.

3. Lack Of Information “As manager of the bank, my job is decisions,” Jim said, “but I really struggle with them. I never feel I have enough information. I keep collecting more documents and talking to more people, but I just never feel that the process is finished and I can make the right decision. I don’t want to make a mistake out of ignorance.”

One cannot know everything. At some point we have to go with what we do know. Decision involves risk. Those who continue to study the decision, rather than make it, are hoping – fruitlessly – that they will stumble across something that will render the decision unnecessary. It doesn’t happen that way.

4. The Need To Be Liked Karen needs her staff to like her. “They’re all the family I have,” was her opening statement to me. “They’re like the children I never had. I hate to discipline them or disappoint them. I want them to care about me in the same way I care about them.”

For the leader who is concerned with being liked, making decisions is especially painful. Many decisions will have a negative impact on someone. And personnel decisions that directly affect employees are a large part of the leadership role. Leaders who are fearful of how employees will react will delay decision making as long as possible.

5. Lack Of Confidence Low self-confidence is more common than we realize. It happens to people who have all the trappings of self-assurance – the job, the title, the education, the intelligence. But inside, they may be riddled with self-doubt. Often, only their spouses know for sure. While this inner uncertainty keeps many potential executives from reaching leadership positions, a few do slip through. Those who do hate making decisions. They are worried about the correctness of the decision, and they don’t think they have the ability to make the “right” decision or defend a questioned decision.

6. Fear Of Change Most people – even top managers – will fight for routine. They understand change, even admire it when they see it from a distance, but they just don’t want to participate in it. The status quo is comfortable and comforting. Decisions that mean change are stalled and avoided by people who fear change. Unfortunately for them, not to decide also can provoke change.

Change may be the number one obstacle faced by managers and their businesses. We see change ahead and often our response is to detour, slow to a crawl, or stop dead in our tracks. Organizations cannot thrive or grow under these circumstances.

Change is a fact.

We need to spend our energy working within change – making those decisions that favorably affect our organizations within the context of change.