Major bottlenecks in businesses are often caused by indecision. It could be that a business owner is waiting on more data before making a decision on a big ticket purchase. They could be too busy to stop and make up their minds on something that needs to be done or perhaps they’re easily distracted by new options that are presented to them. But avoiding the tough decisions that need to be made can paralyse a business, leading to lost opportunities. Here’s some advice from small business expert Dr Greg Chapman to help business owners tackle the problem of indecisiveness.
Over at Australian Small Business Blog, Dr Chapman noted that while many bottlenecks like delays in issuing invoices or suppliers not honouring their commitments may create real costs for a business, being unable to make tough decisions in a timely manner could be even more costly:
“When the owner doesn’t take decisions, the business suffers. Problems in the business don’t get addressed and opportunities are missed. Perhaps there is an opportunity to expand in a new location, but there is a cost, and a risk that it will be a poor return on investment. How does the owner decide that the risk is worth taking? While they ponder and suffer analysis paralysis, a competitor makes the move and prospers. Fortune does favour the brave.”
His advice is to tackle indecisiveness is to have a clear vision for your business, knowing what you want and having a plan to get it done: “While not eliminating indecision, this does reduce the difficulty. Does the decision advance the plan? Is it a distraction?”
Dr Chapman also recommends bringing in an objective third-party that you can turn to that can assist small business owners in making difficult decisions.
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