Are You Guilty of Being Indecisive?

By Roberta Fisher, Gadd Business Consultants

 

Making decisions is a critical part of being a truly great leader.  The inability to decide has damaged the careers of many sometimes as much as dishonesty or making bad decisions.  Pondering on what to do, when to do it and how to do it are elements everyone faces in deciding.  Sometimes we try to wait until we have all the facts or perfect information.  Some even wait, hoping someone else will step up to the challenge.  The reality is that you may have only seconds to decide how to handle a situation.  Time is often a luxury we don’t always have.

Your employees are depending on you to lead, not just watch and see what happens.  It may not be a life or death situation you are facing but not doing anything can be dangerous.

Even making a wrong decision is better than no decision.  Even a wrong decision can be a time to learn from mistakes, how to correct your decision and how to implement a procedure so it does not occur again.

Determine quickly how to move forward on the issue you are facing.  Do you have time to collect facts, compare previous handling of a similar or same issue or must you go on what you know now.  Even if you have time, make sure you are not just waiting for the time to “be right”.   Move in a forward direction until you either should act on it or your facts have been proven wrong, but, move forward. If time is on your side design a plan of action and timetable to ensure a decision is made on time and involve all who may be a party to the problem/issue or event.

If you really have a tough time making even the slightest decision in business/life then find a person you have confidence in and let them mentor you in making critical decisions.  The habit of not making a decision can be corrected.

 

Reference: Steve Keating, https://stevekeating.me/2017/05/29/death-by-indecisiveness/