“The mistake we make is that we assume that toughest
choices are between right and wrong, when in actuality, they are between right and right.”
— Joseph Badaracco
I have come to believe that the biggest threat to an organization is not making the wrong decision: It’s making no decision at all.
I have watched leaders agonize over a decision, frozen with terror of making a bad choice. Consequently, decisions are delayed. Words like “inclusiveness”, “caution”, and “prudence” are used to rationalize the delay. But with each passing day, the lack of decisiveness looms as a larger threat to the organization’s future.
Most leaders and organizations can quickly identify the choices they have when faced with a decision. It’s the weighing of the finalists that bog down the process. Most of the time, deciding on any of the final alternatives will get to 80-90% of the desired outcome.
But when organizations strive to get that last 10%, they delay the journey toward the bulk of the advantages. In these times of rapid change, velocity is everything. Moving quickly and clearly in a desired direction is the quickest path to success, yet we often hesitate, believing that the 100% answer does exist…if we can only find it.
But it probably doesn’t exist. And even if it did today, tomorrow it might not. Change is relentless and doesn’t wait for that perfect strategy.
So, what’cha waitin’ for? Find that 80-90% solution and commit to it. You’ll gain time to make more decisions, which will inevitably present themselves.
Get clear, decide, move fast with confidence, and be ready to quickly adjust when more change appears.
“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing.
The next best thing you can do is the wrong thing.The worst thing you can do is nothing.”
— Theodore Roosevelt
Ronn Lehmann advises organizations and leaders on the human factors that determine their culture. Lehmann developed the Cultural Audit Process, which is designed to provide an outside perspective of an organization’s culture: what’s important, what’s rewarded and punished, what the rules are, and how people “show up.”
Success Authorities’ book, “Conversations for Clarity: Critical Questions Leaders Must Ask Themselves” is available now at Amazon!
