All organisations need to make decisions. Decisions are made everyday both tactically and strategically. The one trait we see in high performing organisations is their ability to make decisions at speed. They go from idea to done in double quick time and spend a lot less time than underperforming businesses, in pontificating on whether to make a decision.
We are all constantly bombarded by blogs and vlogs that the world is changing and that we need to get things done more quickly in order to keep up. You're reading this because you know that your organisation struggles to make decisions and you either want to:
Improve the situation and status quo for the good of the organisation
Determine whether they can ever make decisions as fast as you need them to for you to be fulfilled in working for them
In a 2014 Harvard Business Review Article "9 Habits That Lead to Terrible Decision Making" they had the view that "...waiting too long for others’ input. Failing to get the right input at the right time. Failing to understand that input through insufficient skills. Failing to understand when something that worked in the past will not work now. Failing to know when to make a decision without all the right information and when to wait for more advice. It’s no wonder good people make bad decisions."
The adage of "fail fast" is a good one. Many legacy organisations are petrified at failing as the culture determines their people cannot take risk or be prepared to be fired.
Classic symptoms of poor decision making capability:
Believing everyone has a vote on a decision (i.e. be all inclusive)
Believing all markets carry equal weight in their decisions
OPEN tagged to decision logs each and every week without a change in status to DONE
Believing the perfect answer is needed before decisions are reached
Poor revenue performance
This is symptomatic of:
Fear of failure by being backed into a corner
Fear of being fired
Fear of rejection and ridicule
Recognising the decision might be disruptive and or required extra work
The absence of constructive conflict is an issue. Even when people know a decision is stupid, they won’t tell you for fear of repercussions
Getting better at decision making starts with you!
Take risk and get stuff done (do actual work)
Believe that not everyone has a vote and get the votes you really need
Consider a decision making framework or tool e.g. www.Fingertip.org
If it does not improve (and you enjoy it), then stay and stop complaining
If you don't like it and want to go quicker...then exit
Lack of decision making in organisations can be hugely frustrating for leaders and teams. If you're a leader or team member that turns up everyday to get things done and make a difference then you need to be in an organisation that gets things done by being good at making decisions. If you're not satisfied with the decision process in your business then either make the changes required or go find the organisation that will fulfil your ambitions.