The right answer sometimes stares us in the face.
We know how things are going to unfold and what we should do about it. But execution can be uncomfortable, messy, or difficult. Perhaps, all three. So, we delay the inevitable, waiting for a better time to pull the trigger. We frequently regret that decision later, often wishing we had acted earlier.
Problems don’t age well. And they rarely go away. Delay doesn’t always make them worse, but it does rob leaders of opportunities to move forward.
Here are a few statements we rarely, if ever, hear:
- “I should have waited longer to terminate that team member.”
- “The change we just made would have benefited from delay.”
- “Holding up the new strategy was a great call.”
- “We should have dragged our feet before solving that problem.”
Major decisions are complex and involve many moving parts and implications. Keeping your options open makes the most sense. But sometimes the answer is painfully clear. Or we know with great clarity how things will turn out.
In those cases, making the choice now is the best course of action. Waiting for the ideal moment or for matters to develop more fully sounds like the judicious option, but not when the answer is obvious or highly predictable.
At such moments, deciding not to act usually makes the outcome less desirable. If it’s the right call, the time to make it is NOW.
Problems don’t pause for red lights. They continue to advance until they are solved. Taking your time to think things through and act prudently should be the default course of action.
But when the answer is as clear as daylight, any delay prevents progress. Postponing the obvious choice can also allow a small problem to grow into a big problem.
When you know how it’s going to turn out, get to the solution as quickly as you can. You won’t regret it later.
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
