Combat Indecisiveness With These 5 Simple Ideas

As a professional facilitator, I lead a lot of business and culture-building workshops. These off-site meetings include participants who range from the ivy-league to the school of hard knocks.

The one thing most have in common is they don't make enough choices.

Not only do they not make enough choices, but most of them fall into recognizable patterns for the type of decision-makers (or, in this case, non-decision-makers) they are in a meeting.

Types of decision-makers

There are five types of people or archetypes when it comes to making choices in strategic planning workshops. I'm going to introduce you to each of them and provide you a simple technique for making choices. 

The Creative Person

Let me introduce you to Lisa. She is a creative person and has a bright mind, and when it comes time to make a decision, she feels the best way is to consider possibilities, LOTS of possibilities. It can often sound like "well, we could do this! or this! or this!"

The Unimaginative Person

Here's Katheryn. She doesn't volunteer many ideas because she's looking for the PERFECT idea. She sees herself as discerning and is GREAT at keeping the rest of us grounded in reality. She believes her value on the team is to protect it from wasting time by shooting down ideas. No choice ever seems to be good enough for her.

The indecisive Person

Meet Kent. He is a hard-working guy with great intentions. What's most important to him is to be helpful and inclusive. He would never want to make the wrong choice for the team, so he spends a LOT of time working towards consensus from EVERYONE on everything rather than deciding.

The Need More Data Person

Then there is David. Oh, David! He is whip-smart and talented, and even when you present him with two compelling options with supporting data to make a choice, he always finds something new that must be explored first. He can't choose unless we have exhausted every resource we have on gathering data, even for the smallest of choices.

The Can't Commit Person

Finally, there is Jaime. He genuinely wants to be decisive, but when the stakes feel high, he wants to keep his options open as long as possible, and just in case a better opportunity comes along later. Delay, delay, delay is his motto.

Did you see any of the folks you work within my descriptions? Are you one of these people? Of course! We all have a bias when it comes to making choices. 

My bias is to be like our friend Lisa and keep creating new options. The way we manage our bias is with a few simple heuristics. These won't completely solve the challenge, but knowing these will definitely help you, help your team make more choices.

Ways of making more choices

All you need are a few tools or heuristics (that's a fun word for process or method!) to help you recognize and overcome your own bias or the group's bias so you can make a decision and finally get out of this windowless conference room!

Hell, yeah or No! Rule (When you need focus)

More ideas are great until they are not. Sometimes you need to focus. A simple way to do it is to set the rule "Hell yeah, or No." This rule allows you to avoid "Maybe." When faced with a choice, ask yourself if this is a "Hell Yeah" moment; if not, then it's a "NO." Here's an example. Hey, do you want to come over and help me clean my garage next weekend? It should only take 8 hours! (Source = Derek Sivers, founder of CDBaby)

Season of Yes! Rule (When you need inspiration)

Sometimes we don't feel very imaginative, or that life and our options are stale. Our friend Katie is a realist, but often when we are thinking like a realist, our actions come out as a pessimist. When you need inspiration or to recalibrate, it's time for a "Season of Yes." It is super easy, start saying yes to anything that comes your way. Deliberately saying yes to what the universe throws your way will make it easier to see more options and possibilities so you can make more choices. (Source = Coffee with Ryan Hahn)

The Hotshot Rule (When you're indecisive)

O, sweet David. He's the most helpful guy! But man, he can be frustrating. You want to shout at him, "just make a decision!" One way to help Kevin or yourself when you're feeling indecisive is to ask yourself what a hotshot would do? (Source: Kat Cole, COO of Focus Brands, via Dan Pink.)

Anytime you are struggling to make a choice at work, ask yourself, If you were replaced today today by some hotshot, what is the choice they would make? You'd be shocked by how helpful this is in workshops with groups of leaders.

What would have to be true? (When you need proof)

When you find yourself, or you are dealing with someone who needs endless proof to make a choice, as them this question: What would have to be true for you to choose and commit? (Source: Roger Martin, Playing to Win)

Asking this question sets the scope of inquiry and the search for more proof. By getting people in the room to commit to what would have to be true to choose in writing, you can then see where people stand and what is standing in their way. This one works brilliantly in meetings because now it's objective and out in the open, so you can work the problem and not the person.

Prototype & Test (When committing is too scary)

Finally, a solution for those of you suffering from an inability or desire to commit. Sometimes when we face a choice, the stakes can feel too high to make a decision. We are hoping that a great solution will materialize if we wait long enough, and then the stake won't feel so high. 

Here's how you overcome this behavior. Build prototypes. Lower the stake by testing, prototyping, or piloting a solution. Taking this approach makes it easier to commit to something smaller and with lower consequences of being wrong. It also allows you to gather a bit more proof either for or against a more significant choice you are trying to make. 

Final Thought

There you have it—five archetypes for decision-makers and five heuristics for making more choices. If you want to be more strategic and earn a seat at the table, stop allowing inertia or accident to determine your path. Be intentional and make choices.

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