To Be or Not To Be, That Is… INDECISIVENESS
Have you ever been out to dinner and one of the people at the table can’t decide what they want to eat? And then they ask the waitress … only to later find out that she is sensitive to gluten and is a vegan.
No, that really happens. I was at the table and was amazed that this person, who is so smart and decisive in the rest of their life, becomes indecisive.
This is a bad thing in the business world and is a career killer in the coaching profession. When the person you look to lead you can’t decide what they want to do you begin to lose faith in everything they say.
I once witnessed an incident at a college program that I was visiting. The head coach wanted to change the schedule to get more energy in the practice. So, the Football Ops guy sent out a schedule with the changes. Every department made changes in their schedule to accommodate the changes. All good!
Fifteen minutes later a new schedule came through. Apparently, the head coach had failed to factor in the change of fields would upset a planned event that was to be held on the alternative field. Items in the schedule were changed to accommodate the change. All good!
An hour later there was another schedule sent out. This time the head coach didn’t like the changes that were made to the schedule because of the event and so he changed the plan again. All good.
Thirty minutes later the entire PLAN was shitcanned because some of the players didn’t like the changes. They were headed towards a classic goat f*#k. Changes were made, adaptions put in place and the schedule was adopted. All good? Yeah … no!
Ten minutes later the head coach was confronted by a second group of players that didn’t like the changes to the schedule. The PLAN was changed for the fifth time in less than two hours.
Instead of beating this dead horse again and again, there were three more changes that day and the practice went down in my “book” as the WORST practice in recorded history.
My point is that there is one person in charge and they need to make the decision. The first change was fine, there was a reason for it. The head coach wanted to pump energy into the practice. He felt that by changing the normal practice field, which would allow for a better acoustic environment that things would be better.
But then he allowed more and more people to put their wants and ideas into the mix. You can’t make everyone happy. The end game is as a leader you need to do what makes the organization better.
In sports it is having great practices leading up to the game, which leads to better play during the game. In business it may be a staff meeting which will make the presentation to the client shine brighter in their eyes so you get the contract.
Whatever the key component of the operation that allows for success, this must be where the leader makes exceptional decisions.
