The Change Resistors: Decision Avoidance

Conflict can be hidden or open.  

Passive-aggressive behavior (covered in a previous post) is one type of hidden conflict. Another common type is decision avoidance.  

When you make a decision you are taking a stand. Taking a stand is risky – you could be wrong. Often people that want to keep their options open will shy away from decision-making. This is politically motivated avoidance.

Sometimes a decision is avoided because key stakeholders or sponsors don’t feel as though they have enough facts. They chose to continue to analyze the problem instead of acting on what they know.  

While analysis is reasonable to a degree, it can go too far. Analysis paralysis is described in Wikipedia as “when the opportunity cost of decision analysis exceeds the benefits”.

People may use established rules to avoid making a decision. This is especially effective when change is related to an emerging market or the creation of a product that doesn’t conform to the company’s current processes. In failing to make a decision to break from existing processes, the initiative could be drowned in inappropriate constraints. 

What can you do about it?

1. Change efforts require strong executive sponsorship. That sponsor should be an active and public participant in decision making and communication.

2. Two-way frequent communication is also a requirement. The communication plan should include a clear description of decisions needed and the impact delays will have on the change process. 

3. Less is more! Communication and documentation should be clear and complete, but keep explanations simple and appropriate to the audience in question. I’ve seen many an insignificant phrase throw a decision making body into a tailspin.

4. Break down decisions into smaller pieces. The results of smaller immediate decisions will help assuage people’s fears. Smaller steps are also easier to correct if they don’t produce the desired outcome. 

5. Finally, change efforts related to innovation are a special breed. When creating new products in emerging markets, consider separating the effort from established processes and management structures.

 

(Previous posts in this series: A Collaborative Series, Culture, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, Passive-Aggressive Behavior)

Technorati tags: Business, Change Resistors, Conflict, Change Management

Comments

[ann michael]

No, I don't (at least not completely). When I talk about resistors in this series I'm assuming that a direction has been chosen and a plan is in place or at least outlined.

We're still in the exploration phase - the definition phase. Things are cloudy and we need to work to make them more clear.

For everyone else - Liz and I are putting together a seminar. We have our subject matter defined at a high level, but we're still refining our desired audience in order to calibrate our content and approach. We are still in the cloud (but getting closer to the clearing)!

[Liz Strauss]

Do you think that's what we're doing?