Move

Chapter 21Decision StallAccelerate Effective Decision Making

What Everyone Is Thinking

We are so slow to make decisions around here. It takes forever. And if we ever do make a decision we don't seem to ever stick to it.

With any amount of data, making a decision is hard—because a decision is a commitment to do something specific. It's much easier psychologically to just keep talking and studying because making a decision puts you at risk of being wrong. So you are never wrong if you never choose! And when you feel like you don't have enough data, committing to a decision is even scarier.

You really want to make a good decision, so you ask your team for more information so that you can personally review the situation and the progress. You schedule a business review to see the additional data and review the options again so that you can make a better decision.

What Everyone Is Thinking

OMG, not another business review! We spend so much time researching and preparing for business reviews, we don't get to do our work! Ugh…we need to gather even more data and make yet another PowerPoint presentation. The execs have requested a review of the options. This needs to be the top priority for our team for the next three weeks. Delay your work because we all have to prioritize the research and the prep meetings for this review.

Are You Implementing Your Strategy or Studying It?

I was working with a CEO and his executive team on their strategy when we came to an interesting point in ...