As leaders and managers, making decisions is a routine part of our role. When presented with the details of a situation, we know that whoever presented the situation is looking to us to make a decision so that they can accomplish whatever goals are before them. Our egos compel us to demonstrate our tremendous intelligence and use our super decision making powers to save the day.
Most of us have won our reputations as leaders by being decisive. For us to delay or defer a decision or worse, not make a decision is challenging on many fronts, due mostly to our own internal drive to make something happen, to demonstrate our superior skills. To not make a decision requires us to slow down, engage the brain, and go against our natural tendencies.
What’s the Rush?
Very few of us work in environments where our decisions have life-or-death implications. Taking a little time to assess things more thoroughly will not likely have catastrophic outcomes. Given time, many situations evolve such that the appropriate decision is obvious. And yet, we feel that delaying a decision will be seen as a weakness, that we will be seen as indecisive. Our challenge is to harness our own internal drives so that we can take the time necessary to make good decisions, not just timely decisions.
Let me be clear: I am not recommending that we adopt a paralysis by analysis paradigm. Nor am I suggesting that every decision should be delayed or deferred. I am simply suggesting that some situations do not require the instantaneous response that we feel compelled to offer. Contrary to what our egos are driving us to do, there are situations that do not need an immediate solution. Sometimes letting situations evolve to determine their own outcome is the right answer.
Take the Time to Analyze
Poor decisions often come from our own internal need to make a decision right now. By adopting a model that allows us to assess the available data, identify and eliminate distractions, understand the effects of time, determine decision options and probable outcomes, and determine the significance of a decision within a larger context, we can more effectively determine which situations need our attention and which ones can or should be deferred or ignored.
The most challenging part of the analysis process for inexperienced decision makers is determining and eliminating the distractions, or irrelevant data. Once data that is irrelevant to the outcome has been eliminated, the choices about which a decision can be made become much clearer.
Notice the words irrelevant to the outcome. That is not the same thing as having no impact on the outcome. Some factors will have an impact on the outcome but the impact may not be relevant. If, for example, deferring a decision until tomorrow will cause the color of something to be green instead of red, but the item is buried under tons of cement in use, does color really matter? Often the choices that remain after filtering the data are different than the choices initially presumed.
Is Time Important?
Time is often a prime consideration so it is worthy of special consideration. That being said, time can also be irrelevant to the outcome. Although time may be irrelevant, it may be a distraction in complex situations because people have different goals that are impacted by time. A more rapid decision may be advantageous to one group while waiting for more information allowing a more informed decision would be more beneficial to another. In cases like this, the situation must be considered within a greater context.
Is there an advantage to the overall organization or environment by moving to a faster decision? And the answer is: “It all depends.” What is at the heart of the issue? I know of one situation wherein two senior VPs nearly cost their company millions of dollars because they could not agree to the timing of an ECO implementation. They were more concerned with their respective schedules than the overall well being of the company.
The challenge once again is to determine whether time is a relevant factor or just a distraction. Does it really matter that something be done on a particular date if the date was chosen arbitrarily to begin with? If time is irrelevant, remove it from the elements of consideration and focus on what is important.
So when might you not make a decision?
These situations probably happen more often than you might think, but we don’t often recognize them. Here is an example from my own experience that illustrates my point.
Tom walked into my office one day, closed the door and said, “You can fire Bill or I am quitting.” I didn’t like either of those choices, but I liked being given ultimatums even less. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to not say what I wanted to say and said, “Excuse me, but I haven’t had a cup of coffee all morning and I would really like one. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” I got up, left the office, left the building, and went to my favorite coffee bar where I proceeded to take my time drinking a latte.
When I came back, there was no one in my office. I busied myself with the details of the day while keeping an ear out for whatever might be happening outside my office. I did not see Tom until the next morning when he again entered my office, closed the door and said, “I have no idea why I came into your office yesterday with such ridiculous demands, but I am glad you did not choose one of those options.” We shook hands and never spoke of it again.
I suppose some would argue that I did make a decision. My decision was to not react to the situation as it was presented to me, and perhaps that is exactly what is meant by not making a decision.
RT @Leadership1: Posted last week: "Take the Time to Make the Right Decision"- http://is.gd/br25J #Leadership #leadchange #management
RT @leadership1: Posted last week: "Take the Time to Make the Right Decision"- http://is.gd/br25J #Leadership #leadchange #management
You are right problems come in a variety and as leaders we must analyze the problem to first determine which one it is.
I handled a similar problem differently but there was an age difference between the two people.
The older guy walks into my office and says he can’t work with the younger one that it is driving him crazy. They just don’t communicate. I said sit down and lets discuss this. I listened intently to his side of the story. I then called in the younger guy and asked him to tell me his side of the story. For each of them I had asked them to see the view point of the other. I waited 2 days then brought them both into a small conference room. I presented both sides of their stories and their concerns. I told them that I had a solution but now that the information was out in the open I asked what they thought the solution should be. Their solution was close to mine so I let them use their solution. The had no problem working after that.
Sometimes the decision is not to make one but to get others to realize that a lack of communications was the problem.
As leaders we understand that if we don’t understand someone we need to talk them to obtain a better understanding. But as humans we most times overlook that, as we are quick to jump to conclusions without all the facts.
Hi Joseph, thank you for sharing your experience with us. I have also experienced the age difference issue and dealt with it similarly. And your final point is right on target. We need to listen and we need to communicate to gain a better understanding of the people and of the situation. I hope you will visit our site often I value your insights.
Allowing yourself a little time before finalizing a decision gives your rational and emotional brain functions a chance to interact and (hopefully) find balance. For those who prefer Myers-Briggs terminology, I’m talking about the thinking and feeling functions. While all decisions, ultimately, involve the evaluative feeling function–and our emotional brains deliver “gut feelings”–it’s still a good thing to get thinking and reason into the process. A one-sided bias toward either direction is less than optimal. A mind is a terrible thing to waste–whether it’s the rational mind or the emotional mind. So give yourself enough time to bring both (or all) of your minds to bear on making your decisions.
As always, Bob, I appreciate your learned insights. I am grateful for your thoughts and continued support of our blog.
So true, so important RT @leadership1 Take the Time to Make the Right Decision http://is.gd/br25J #leadership #PR
Exactly, not making a decision public until it is final and well thought, or avoiding decisions for ‘problems’ which may solve by themselves is one thing. Playing games by delaying the answer is completely another. Thanks for the interesting post.
Vicky
Thank you for stopping by and commenting on my post, Vicky. I appreciate your thoughts. I concur, there is no room in any business for posturing and playing games with delay tactics.
I’m impressed with your restraint. I would love to think I would handle situations like that. I will remember your story the next time I’m faced with a no-win confrontation.
I think your decision to put off the decision was the right move. I’ve noticed situations on the other end of the spectrum and would love to get your opinion.
I recently had coffee with friends, one of whom was deciding on accepting a job offer. He had interviewed for weeks, negotiated an offer and then, when he got what he wanted, announced that since the company had taken weeks to make their decision, he should have a lot of time to make his.
My opinion is that they both went through a long process in which they came together on a mutually beneficial offer, based upon agreed terms. I think that taking an extra week puts a red flag up, for decision making, to senior management. When I was recruiting, I always counseled my candidates to make them ready to rapidly accept an offer, if it matched the negotiations.
What is your opinion?
Marty
Hi Marty,
First, thank you for stopping by and commenting on my post. I appreciate your interest and your thoughts on my restraint. I will offer that what I wanted to do and what I did were two different things. But that is another story.
With regard to your question, I am in your camp. Both the company seeking to hire and the candidate seeking to be hired invest a lot of time and energy to arrive at the point where an offer is made. Assuming that the candidate has been forth coming with all of their demands and those demands have either been met or addressed then there is no value in a prolonged decision making process. I have always considered 2 to 3 days to be adequate time for someone to make a decision. I do think it discourteous for companies to require an immediate decision, but barring any concerns, even then a candidate should be prepared to decide. There is no value in playing games after an offer is made. In fact I always tell job candidates who are interviewing with me that I will do everything I can to address all of their requirements, but I will not tolerate a post-offer negotiation.
Again my thanks,
Gordon