Create Business Leverage By Making Decisions When The Time Is Right
One of the principles I learned early while being trained to implement Sales & Operations Planning was to not make decisions until you have to – not too early and not too late. Evidence suggests that the best decision makers, premier athletes, expert investors, and even popular comedians, hone the ability to wait as long as possible before deciding or acting.
Often when I see a client’s team “spinning its wheels” and getting nowhere it’s because the time is not right to make a decision. However, the non-decision can spur heated debate and a lot of wasted energy. In these situations, I usually ask,
“Is now the optimum time to make the decision?”
“When is the optimum timing in terms of date or in terms of other events that have to have to happen in order to make that decision?“
“Do we even have enough information to make that decision if we had to?” Rarely is there yet which leads to the next questions
“What information is needed to make the decision?”
“What are the action items to collect the information?”
We then assign the action items and monitor them in the company’s task/action management system and note the decision to be made and the timing of it in a section labelled “key decisions to be made”. In that way, those to whom the decision is most important will feel heard, the decision will get revisited when it’s most appropriate (and importantly not too late), and the team’s energy can be spent on decisions that do have to be made now.
If you'd like to learn more about improving your business success by improving your team's decision making processes I welcome you to contact me at the email address or phone number below.Written By Rob Pilz © Copyright February 1, 2014 Revelation Business Solutions Ltd.
About Rob Pilz
A senior executive, including former CFO, of public and private companies, I have more than 20 years experience building, optimizing and financing businesses ranging from Fortune 500‘s to Delloite’s Technology Fast 50TM. With a talent for bringing out the best in leaders and an expertise in creating leverage, my current passion is building a network of highly conscious leaders generating a virtuous cycle of positive change and wealth. I am constantly looking for ways to improve the odds of business success and have developed a process combining mind, heart and gut to make better faster decisions that I call Zero Point Decision MakingTM. I welcome your questions or comments to my email address at rob@robpilz.com or phone 646-480-0507.
Related reading:
Forbes Article: The Art and Science of Timing Decisions
NY Times Article, Do You Suffer from Decision Fatigue?
Frank Partnoy’s book Wait: The Art and Science of Delay
Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking