The High Cost of Indecision

Are you struggling to make a decision about an uncomfortable issue or relationship in the within your organization, your team, or even within yourself? While it may seem that nothing is happening while you ponder what to do next some things are happening:

·       Your reluctance to decide may create uncertainty, leading to confusion about goals, priorities, and expectations among your team.

·       You could miss opportunities to expand your influence and impact as you overthink, or 'underact.'

·       Not decisively addressing problems can allow those problems to escalate into crises, making them more difficult and costly to address. 

·       Your credibility as a leader will be negatively impacted if you are viewed as indecisive.

We live in a rapidly changing world (I could start every blog with that sentence, but it's true). This means challenges that cause us to consider pivots, shifts and shuffles will be an even greater part of how we lead. So, where might you be struggling to make major decision? Do you notice that you have trouble making decisions personally, with your team, or organizationally? Here are possible reasons people struggle with decision-making:

Make the best decision, even if it's not the perfect one.

1. Fear of Making The Wrong Decision. Yes, there is a chance you could make the wrong decision --- the one that doesn't align with where you thought you would be. As leaders, we are responsible for gathering the information necessary to make the best decision based on our organization, team or personal requirements. Have you done all the research that you need to make the best decision? If so, consider the cost of doing nothing in your research to see if it outweighs the benefits of a decision.

2.     Analysis Paralysis. And speaking of research, have you ever observed a leader who spent so much time researching that instead of becoming clearer, the issue got even murkier? This is what happens when we become so focused on building an airtight case for a possible decision, that the decision remains a possibility. Snap out of it! Once you have done the research necessary to make the best decision, are you still hiding behind "researching it"?

3.     No Vision for What's Next. Are you finding it hard to see where you're going? Last weekend we had an odd thing happen in the Chicagoland area: a dust storm. This was a phenomenon most of us living had never experienced. Depending on your location, your vision could have been impaired.

Give your team a jumpstart to innovation with the Plot Twist Exercise.

The economic, social, and spiritual climates in our world, like that dust storm, haven't been experienced by most of us alive today. How do you stay true to an economic vision when it could change due to international market conditions outside of your control? Do you adjust the vision for your organization's culture based on shifts in social norms, or do you stick to what's in place? Finally, how do you envision your organization or team managing workplace expectations while dealing with those same economic, social, spiritual and cultural challenges of today? Being "blinded" by these considerations can also be a reason you are having trouble making a decision.

When leaders are indecisive, stagnation happens. The stagnation happens first within the leader and then spreads to the team and the organization. You can pay the cost of indecision, or using your experience, research, and knowledge of the conditions we are all facing, courageously risk making the best decision for yourself, your team and your organization. Only you can decide which it will be.

Michele Aikens is CEO of Clear Sight Coaching & Consulting, Inc.