When Decisions Collide

My wife and I were driving to the office during rush hour (4:30pm - it's great to be semi-retired). Our light turned green and as we moved into the intersection the cross traffic just kept on coming. I drive a BIG truck so I decided to put a little bit of the fear of God into one driver who just didn't make it across, thereby blocking our path midway. I moved ahead slowly confident that I'd do no harm and cause him to think just a bit about blocking traffic in the future. But that's just the prelude to the real story.

As soon as we cleared this intersection we could not help but notice the blue and red flashing lights coming from several police, fire, and ambulance vehicles. It was at least a three-car accident. Emergency crews were prying metal apart and extracting seriously injured folks from their vehicles. Traffic in the accident lane was completely detoured. As we weaved our way around the scene, it struck me that several decisions created this catastrophe. Someone thought they could and couldn't, while someone else thought the same thing and both were apparently wrong. What happened? And what is the message for a less life-threatening situation?

Decisions are made hundreds of times each day that likely have some impact on each of us. Decision-makers in Washington pass legislation. State governments create regulations based on legislation that also impacts our lives. On and on it goes. At work the boss and supervisors make decisions that impact policy and organization culture in ways that often leave us questioning the sanity of those for whom we labor. We just try to get through it all unscathed.

I've been in meetings with 100% confidence that a decision has already been made but input is elicited in a hollow routine. It's just a waste of time. On the other end of the spectrum I've endured endless discussions and back-to-the-drawing-board research to be certain that the decision eventually made will be perfect in execution (a highly improbable notion). Then there are the competing decision-makers, each with a camp following that tend to polarize the process rather than evoke collaboration. Our Congress is certainly a prime and highly visible example of that nonsense (viewed from any angle).

Many decisions are part of a pattern of decision-making that is well known to those who must observe it. By the way, those patterns are often unknown to those who live them. There are plenty of "decision inventories" that will help those who might not be aware of their frozen styles - and the organizational implications thereof. We think a better way is to think not so much about the perfect decision as the involvement of those who must carry it out. Not withstanding the totally urgent decision, typically a bit of hesitation will at least buy ownership or or at most save a life.


Note to RGB Certifieds: This has Q1 through Q4 and RGB written all over it, at minimum.