I get that making decisions is tough, but come on

I get that making a decision can be really tough. Whether personally or professionally we occasionally struggle to gather enough information to make an informed decision as best we can. Sometimes it is easier to make a decision on something that costs $2,000 or $20,0000 than it is on something that costs $20. Saying that you can’t decide right now until some other information comes in is also a decision. I struggle with all kinds of decisions. I am not perfect. Sometimes I make wrong decisions, sometimes right. A lot of the decisions have a little of both.

Jeff Bezos in his 2017 letter to shareholders talked about the velocity of decision making and how important decision making is to Amazon. To better compete in the new reality of business we need to be comfortable with only 70% of the data to make a decision. Jeff is making the acknowledgement that we will never have 100% or even 99.7% of the data (for you statistics geeks). He also stated that when necessary the team needs to acknowledge the disagreements surrounding a decision but that people need to commit to a decision in order to have progress.

Here is what I want to add to that and I believe Jeff is also saying, make the decision and stop making the same decision over and over again!

I was recently in a set of meetings in which most of the participants forgot that we had made a decision on a very specific feature set. A few months ago the product development team couldn’t decide which feature to put into the product. The team spent 2 hours going over the feature set that was originally designed about 15 months ago but we had decided then to put it on hold as we struggled to bring out the base product.

Marketing was asked to find out customers’ opinion on the feature. After talking to many customers at several trade shows, information was brought to the group and a course was set. Fast forward 3 months and now the team is ready to take some steps regarding the feature set designed 15 months ago then researched again 3 months ago. The group, and in particular the lead development person, forgot that we had gathered the exact information that was now being desired. Now the decision was being debated again. And for the same reasons as 3 months ago. And again by high priced people who should have known the answers from 3 months ago.

The overwhelming mediocrity of most businesses and volunteer groups comes from the lack of ability to make decisions, stick to the decisions, and follow through with the decision. This can be by an individual, like an owner, or collectively as in a management team. Or it can be from the manager who says that he or she wasn’t specifically asked to make a decision even though he/she is on the team that has to make a decision. (That floored me when I heard that but that will be another story.) Maybe it is the “Minnesota Nice” junk that happens here in the land of 10,000 lakes. But the more I talk to people, especially managers, directors, and their employees, from all over the country and world, it is the inability to make a decision or the constant revisiting of a decision that hampers a company’s progress and growth. We replow a field over and over again and wonder why the crop doesn’t grow.

Does this mean never going back on a decision? Certainly not. But there should be a valid reason for revisiting a decision. Maybe market conditions have changed, new competitors have entered the market, an existing competitor just announced a product just like you are offering, the main part for the product is now twice the cost. All solid reasons for revisiting a decision. But not because you forgot you already made the decision.

Some companies have a bit of good timing and luck that may take an initial product through to market and be successful. It could be years before there is a fork in the road and a decision has to be made. The ability to make the decision, make it quickly, and not get sidetracked with second and third guessing will show the true quality of the manager or owner or team. The ability to make decisions quickly and effectively. and only once will ensure profitability, growth, and survivability.

PS: This is my first article on Medium, hopefully the first of many. I chose June 2 to start my writing adventure as this is the birthday of my aunt Marianne whose life was taken by leukemia at a far too early age. But when she was around she was a highly respected teacher and one of my favorite relatives. I hope that I can live up to her ideals as I move from a practitioner to a teacher.

I am building my business at www.frankspevak.com.