Business Growth, Leadership

Are We Making Decisions, or Just Reacting?

Leadership at the tactical level can feel productive when we're busy. Problems appear. We solve them. Someone needs a decision. We make it. Something goes wrong. We fix it. Then we come back tomorrow and do it again.

There is obviously a place for this. Sometimes the problem in front of us simply needs to be dealt with. Not every issue requires a workshop, a root-cause analysis and three weeks of reflection.

But if we're repeatedly solving the same problems, responding to the same escalations and correcting the same behaviours, eventually we need to ask a different question:

Are we making good tactical decisions, or have we just become very good at reacting?

Reacting Isn't Always Wrong

Sometimes we need to move quickly. A client has a problem. Someone hasn't turned up. A deadline has shifted. Something has failed. Deal with it. The ability to make a reasonable decision with limited time and incomplete information is an important part of leadership.

The problem isn't reacting. The problem is when reacting becomes our default way of operating. If most of our day is spent responding to whatever has just happened, the environment starts setting our priorities for us. We might be making plenty of decisions. We're just not necessarily deciding what deserves our attention.

When the Exception Becomes the Process

Management by exception has its place. Something unusual happens, we step in, make a decision and keep things moving. But what happens when the same exception keeps appearing? If a team member constantly needs clarification, we can keep providing it. If work repeatedly comes back for approval, we can keep approving it. If the same client issue keeps escalating, we can keep resolving it.

Each individual response might be perfectly reasonable. Collectively, they might be telling us something. Perhaps expectations aren't clear. Perhaps decision-making authority sits too high. Perhaps the process doesn't work. Perhaps capability hasn't kept pace with responsibility.

At some point, solving the immediate problem stops being enough. We need to understand why the problem keeps finding us.

Metrics Don't Make Decisions

Most organisations aren't short of information.

We have dashboards, financial reports, project trackers, engagement surveys, performance measures and enough notifications to ensure we're rarely unaware that something has happened. But observing a metric isn't decision-making. A number tells us something. Leadership requires us to decide what it means.

Consider:

• Has something genuinely changed?
• Is this normal variation?
• Does it require action?
• What happens if we do nothing?
• What decision would this information actually cause us to make?

If the answer is none, we might need to question why we're measuring it in the first place.

More information doesn't automatically produce better decisions. Sometimes it just gives us more things to look at.

Solve the Problem in Front of Us. Then Look Behind It.

There is a tension here.

If something is going wrong right now, that's probably not the moment to disappear and contemplate the deeper organisational system. Deal with the problem. Then come back and ask:

• What caused it?
• Has it happened before?
• What assumptions were we making?
• Was the person responsible actually given enough authority to act?
• Did they have enough context?
• Is there something in the way we work that makes this problem more likely to happen again?

The first decision gets us through today. The second might mean we don't have to make the same decision tomorrow.

Don't Confuse Thinking With Waiting

There's another side to this.

We can become so determined not to be reactive that we overcorrect. We analyse. We seek more information. We consult another person. We schedule another meeting. Eventually, thinking becomes its own form of avoidance.

Good tactical decision-making isn't about waiting until we have certainty. We rarely will. It's about having enough information to make a reasonable decision, understanding the consequences and being prepared to adjust when the situation changes.

Sometimes the thoughtful decision is to wait. Sometimes it's to move. Knowing the difference is part of the job.

The Point

Good tactical leadership isn't about eliminating reaction. Nor is it about analysing every decision until all uncertainty disappears. It's knowing when the situation needs an immediate response and when the repeated need for that response is telling us something bigger.

Solve the urgent problem. But every now and then, look at the problems we're solving repeatedly. Because being exceptionally good at putting out fires is useful.

Working out why we keep having fires is leadership.