Decision-making skills are crucial at all levels of business, but many companies get caught in the revolving door of indecision. CXOs and key decision makers are often assumed to have good decision-making skills, but too often team-oriented decision-making and action-taking is confused with the ability to make decisions and make plays from a central position. somewhat less involved position. Delegating, sidetracking, or hinting at a plan without assigning real tasks and following through are forms of delay in disguise. The costs of indecision are many and high, including more paperwork and workflow nightmares as things get lost in the shuffle and get lost. Avoid the endless flurry of indecision and take back the reins by identifying what type of decision maker you (and the key players in your company) are.

Which one are you?

Progressive and prosperous companies have it all figured out. They know when to act and follow a linear decision-making process. On rare occasions, important initiatives are delayed for months with little or no follow-through because someone didn’t make a call or complete a task when they said they would.

This is how it’s supposed to work:

1. An idea or problem is proposed or presented.
2. The appropriate team of people meet to discuss
3. If a solution or course of action is suggested, action items are assigned, timelines are given, and progress updates or follow-ups are made in a timely manner.
4. If the development of a solution or course of action requires further discussion, a follow-up is scheduled and everyone involved knows what is still needed and does their part.

And of course all of this is well documented and shared with stakeholders. You may be saying, “yes, in a perfect world,” but isn’t that what we should all aspire to, at least most of the time? Apathy is not good for business, and the sad reality is that a visit to 9 out of 10 small and medium-sized businesses would reveal gaps or problems in the previous workflow, where failure to identify action items, procrastination , inaction, failure to incorporate accountability measures, and further delays are much more common.

There are many reasons why this kills production, some obvious and some not so obvious. In companies where the merry-go-round and see-saw are normal, one of the more subtle implications is that people don’t take their jobs, or each other, seriously. This lowers morale, hinders progress, and slows productivity. In the case of the hamster wheel scenario, indifference breeds like bacteria. What is someone’s real motivation for doing something when poor monitoring and lack of accountability is accepted as the norm?

The 10 Real Costs

The costs of indecision, lack of timely follow-up, and inaction at the heart of business affairs are numerous, but the price need not be high. Let’s take a look at the 10 real costs of pervasive, ongoing procrastination:

1. The steps necessary to achieve business objectives are postponed in all areas.
2. Paperwork, workflow, and process nightmares become overwhelming as things get lost in the shuffle of endlessly being recapped, rescheduled, and reworked.
3. Teams dissolve when co-workers start pointing fingers and take a more passive approach.
4. Morale declines as people begin to feel drained, drained, and unimportant.
5. Time is wasted searching for, reiterating, and holding meetings on previously discussed material that was not acted upon.
6. opportunities are missed
7. Communication lines get clogged and expectations are misunderstood.
8. Communication is abandoned when workers begin to feel that their efforts are being ignored or not listened to
9. People give up trying to be creative or take on bigger projects.
10. Customer service and the company ideal are compromised as employees become less motivated and interested in their work.

And there is actually an 11th potential cost, if the problem becomes so pervasive that it goes beyond the 4 walls of the company: You may develop a reputation as a difficult company to work with, and partner companies, vendors, or customers might start trying to steer free to do business with you.

Basically, patterns of indecision cause companies to deteriorate from the inside out. Apathy and indifference can permeate the very fabric of a company, affecting each and every member of the team. Certain people may try to promote change, but if leadership spins around the wheel of indecision, no real change will happen until the company addresses its weaknesses from the top down.

What can you do?

There are software solutions that can facilitate transparency, tracking and more efficient workflows, but they only solve a small part of the problem. Technology will not repair interpersonal relationships or bring about the return of correct attitudes. Don’t let your business stagnate and get a reputation for being difficult to manage. It all starts with embracing, and enforcing, a culture that, at its core and as a whole, is responsive, engaged, collaborative, nurturing, accountable, and fast-acting, from the top down.