Even good leaders have a need for closure. No one likes to live with uncertainty for longer than they have to.
While waiting too long to make a decision plagues some leaders, the hidden danger of making decisions prematurely is far more prevalent.
The need for closure is a psychological drive to find definite answers and conclusions and to avoid ambiguity.
When leaders and decision-makers feel a strong need for closure, they reduce their consideration of new information and plausible alternatives.
This quarantine against openness commonly results in low-quality decisions.
Not surprisingly, leaders who make decisions too early often brush aside alternatives, eliminate strategic optionality, overlook developing opportunities, and undervalue ongoing changes in the marketplace.
Their desire to reach a conclusion and put the issue behind them also limits creative and flexible thinking, hindering the exploration and consideration of higher-quality solutions.
For as much as leadership experts tout the benefits of decisiveness, making decisions too quickly consistently undermines decision quality.
Not rocket science.
So why would a leader make a decision before they should?
In addition to overconfidence and the failure to assess why a particularly impactful decision requires more deliberation, the need for closure is the number one reason leaders act prematurely.
This need is magnified by both personal and situational factors that good leaders stand on guard against.
Leaders who value control, structure, and routine tend to have a higher need for closure, often feeling distressed by uncertainty.
Deadlines, physical discomfort, decision complexity, and social pressure also heighten the need for closure. The compulsion to reduce uncertainty and ambiguity is natural, but good leaders resist it.
Smart decision-makers do their best to fight off any urge to act just so they can be free of uncertainty.
The awareness that internal or external pressures exist to make a decision quickly should set off alarm bells. Relief is always a dead giveaway. When making a fast decision that will undoubtedly relieve stress, anxiety, or uncertainty, leaders should suspect that a need for closure may be in play.
While deadlines and other pressures exert real influence on decision-timing, the focus on making a quality decision must always remain the priority.
Leaders succumb to the need for closure more often than they realize. That’s because escaping the discomfort and uncertainty created by decisions can distort objectivity and convince leaders that they have sound reasons for fast closure.
The best leaders and decision-makers stay on guard against this cognitive bias and do their best to reject any urge to reach closure. Instead, they aim for high-quality decisions made in the time required.
How strong is your need for closure? How often do you feel the urge to move quickly just to be free of the issues? Closing the door more quickly doesn’t lead to better decisions. Reaching closure is the enemy of sound decision-making.
Good leaders don’t reach closure. They make great decisions.
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
