In recent workshops and coaching sessions, I’ve observed and heard an increasing pattern of decision fatigue. Are you seeing the same patterns with your teams and leaders?
The operating model that we thought was going to be a temporary “sprint” has shifted into a long-term, always-connected commitment. Now, even as we all lean hard toward “normal,” we find that our habit has pivoted to conservative, hierarchically-safe decisions rather than the peer-to-peer work we know from experience and intuition to be more efficient.
I’m seeing leaders who are struggling to get clarity to make the call, then being asked to remain connected as things are rolled out. This puts them in an always-connected stress zone, where they are having trouble investing in the time away needed to get clear and reset. The hidden effect of being asked to remain “in the loop” implies that the decision is somehow inadequate or “on the bubble.” When you are waiting for the bubble to pop across the scope of the decisions you’ve made, it can be draining.
In short, COVID moved every firm into the unfamiliar ground on the right-hand side of the chart above.
Post-COVID Decision Making: It’s Time for a New Approach
Prior to COVID, I frequently worked with leaders and teams to support them as they made decisions in new spaces where there is far more uncertainty than they are used to.
But in this post-COVID era, we’ve moved into a zone where adaptation, not algorithmic execution, is the right tool. When we are working in the Top Left quadrant, our intuition is well-calibrated, experience improves the breed, and we are able to make sense as a group of what investment we need to make – as well as a strong sense of the predicted outcome.
Adaptation calls for a different approach.
There are multiple, and seemingly inconsistent, sets of data that appear for consideration – the best of which is likely located closest to the source. Multiple narratives emerge trying to blend the conflicting data. In a mature firm, conflict is resolved by drawing in higher levels of leadership. But senior team members are used to being arbitrators, not facilitators.
The powerful approach here is to engage the full brain of a well-curated team and push hard into process and fact base, allowing the team to do the work of decision making. When this happens, we get better ideas, the good kind of conflict to improve them, and the boldness to put them into play. You can read more about this process here.
A Useful Framework to See the Decision Shift
In the context of that work, I share a sketch (above) calling out the dimensions of the potential cost (or opportunity) of the decision relative to the team’s certainty on the call.
I’ve augmented the sketch with labels relative to typical mature firms:
- Bottom Left: this is the zone of modest cost and high certainty. The obvious point here is just do it. While this is easy, the drawback is that you can easily load the system with many lower value projects that might not make the hurdle rate for your situation.
- Top Left: this is the zone most firms operate in, the sweet spot. They’ve developed specific expertise in making decisions that would be hard for most, and result in strong returns. Chances are really good that this competence has moved through the firm in the form of rules of thumb, analysis tools, and executive mentoring.
- Bottom Right: this is the “bias for action” domain where the foundation for making a decision is less clear, but the stakes are moderate. It’s in this case that teams should do their analysis, and move. It’s highly likely that delay will not add to the value of the decision. At the same time, the impact of waiting is never positive, and each day not in market reduces overall earnings for the product or service.
- Top Right: this is the zone many teams resist, where the stakes are high AND there is low certainty. This is also the spot where much opportunity lies in the form of rich new business niches and learning. Unfortunately, this is also the place where firms get into paralysis analysis and get caught up in thinking about taking action vs. moving forward in any substantial way. I’m hearing leaders report that they are being asked for repeated layers of confirmation, which is killing the opportunity for the growth that our firms so desperately need. We are asking firms to outperform their historical norms to support growth in their communities. This will only come through fresh opportunities in new markets combined with the best of digital tools like AI, IoT and Blockchain.
Although firms are most comfortable making decisions from the Top Left quadrant, the uncertainty and pace of change requires that we shift to the Top Right if we want to do more than just tread water.
At the root of it, one of the biggest challenges I see in established firms is that they attempt to use their well-honed decision-making protocol (Top Left quadrant above) in the top right corner.
Moving to the right side of the framework above demands a different approach.
Making the Shift From Right to Left
Making the shift into adaptive decision-making takes significant effort – whether we willingly commit to moving in that direction or reactively scramble to adjust. The first step is the team and leader need to recognize they are in a new zone, and applying the old rules is not working. Second, the leader and team need three elements to provide a framework and foundation for progress:
- Develop fresh frameworks: Visually relatable tools create and activate opportunities for the group to see the context of the situation more accurately.
- Adopt Vocabulary: Great teams use terms in a way that can be clearly understood and bring in participation by non-traditional team members. Being able to have new frameworks and new terminology puts the team in a learning mode, which opens up the possibility of rich, non-hierarchical dialogue.
- Commit to Empathy and Solutions: Leaders that have both empathy and the drive to find solutions deliver them. This implies that leaders also have the humility to reverse course, with authenticity, when new data becomes available – quite a tall order.
How I Can Help
This has been a really rough time to be a leader in an established firm. Just when consensus is emerging and it seems like “normal” is about to break out, something happens that forces us to reconsider. Developing the skills to lead authentically and transparently are the fresh table stakes for 2022 and beyond.
I have helped clients adopt and apply adaptive decision making as they enter new domains of products and services. In addition, I’ve helped them identify the frameworks that allow diverse stakeholders to come together and make the hard decisions that lead to progressing the firm while saving time, money and resources.
If you’d like to have a short call regarding your specific situation – feel free to put a 20-minute call on the books using this link.
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