SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 190,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our e-newsletter.
How quickly does your organization make decisions?
- Very — we get to decisions quite rapidly: 11.32%
- Somewhat — we get to decisions with some delays: 29.11%
- Not very — our decision-making process is slow: 43.94%
- Not at all — it takes us forever to make a decision: 15.63%
Time for a change of style. Part of the reason your decision making processes are slow are likely attributable to the decision making style you’re using. Many times we default to a consensus-based style. It’s inclusive. It gets everyone agreeing. It takes forever because no one ever agrees. It’s also infrequently the best style to choose. If you focus on improving how you choose a decision making style, the speed of your decision making should accelerate.
Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS, author of “Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results” and “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”