I’ve noticed that some teams are better at making good decisions than others. Trying to understand why, I came across a September 2014 article in the Harvard Business Review called “9 Habits That Lead to Terrible Decisions” by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman. They studied 50,000 leaders to identify the behaviors that lead to poor decision making. I’ve summarized the bad habits below in order of most to least significant.
1. Laziness – people take the easy way out and fail to check facts, confirm assumptions, or gather input. They assume that what worked before will work again.
2. Not anticipating unexpected events – people fail to consider what might go wrong, optimistically assume that bad things will never happen or fail to perform the due-diligence that steers better decision-making.
3. Indecisiveness – people study options and possibilities, waiting for one more (or one perfect) piece of information before deciding. The delayed decision impacts the team worse than a wrong decision would have.
4. Remaining locked in the past – people use the same old solutions that worked last time (or for decades) without understanding that new possibilities exist or that the underlying assumptions are different.
5. Having no strategic alignment – people miss the context of the problem or solutions and make decisions that fail to address the political, financial, or technical aspects needed for implementation.
6. Over-dependence – people defer decisions to others who may be waiting for input from others, and so on. Sometimes, it is best to remember the lesson of bad habit #3, be independent and decide.
7. Isolation – people fail to involve others with the relevant experience, expertise, and knowledge for two reasons: 1) they want to take credit for the solution or 2) their network is insufficiently developed or they lack the networking skills needed to access the vital input.
8. Lack of technical depth – people must often make decisions out of their area of expertise, causing them to rely on the recommendations and expertise of others without any perspective of their own. Great decision makers have the deep expertise needed for the decision, or when needed, they voraciously seek the specialized talent.
9. Failure to communicate the what, where, when, and how associated with their decisions – people neglect to share decisions, including the rationale, expected outcomes, and possible implications. This critical and timely communication is required for full implementation support.
A word of warning – avoid decision paralysis! In another Harvard Business Review study of 17,000 executives, decisiveness (making decisions quickly) mattered significantly more than the quality of those decisions. So, be thoughtful about the nine behaviors mentioned above, and go ahead to make the decisions needed to keep your team, project, and organization moving!
~ Cinda
Cinda Bond, MIPI, has been an OrgMetrics partnering facilitator for more than 10 years. She has facilitated more than 500 sessions for teams throughout the country. She also collaborates with engineering and construction teams to develop large documents containing hundreds of pages for construction contracts and proposals.
For more information please contact Cinda Bond, CindaBond@Orgmet.com / (925)640-9007 (cell), or OrgMetrics RobReaugh@Orgmet.com / (925)449-8300
Cinda Bond, MIPI, has been an OrgMetrics partnering facilitator for more than 10 years. She has facilitated more than 500 sessions for teams throughout the country. She also collaborates with engineering and construction teams to develop large documents containing hundreds of pages for construction contracts and proposals.