There is a particular kind of decision delay that humans are good at dressing up as diligence.
It looks like consideration. It has the shape of patience. It uses phrases like ‘I want to make sure we have all the information’ and ‘let’s not rush this.’ And sometimes, that is exactly what it is – a considered, conscious decision to wait before acting.
But sometimes we are procrastinating. Asking for more information when we already have enough. Deferring a decision not because the time isn’t right, but because the decision is difficult – because making it will cause friction, tension, or discomfort. And it is easier, for now, not to.
Here is what tends to separate the two.
A considered pause – a deliberate decision not to decide yet – has a clear rationale. You are waiting for specific information, a particular conversation, a moment when the conditions will genuinely be better. You could articulate, if pressed, what you are waiting for, why it matters to the decision, and when you will have it. The pause has a shape and an end point.
Procrastination tends to be vaguer. You can’t quite make up your mind – or more usually, the right decision is the braver one and you’re not quite ready to make it. The information you said you needed arrives, and somehow it is still not quite enough. The decision keeps getting nudged to next week, next quarter, after the away day. There is always a reasonable sounding reason, and the reasons keep changing.
What’s driving the decision delay?
What’s driving it, under the surface, is usually uncertainty and fear. Not just uncertainty about the outcome – will this work? – but uncertainty about how people will respond. Making a difficult decision can feel like committing to a direction and closing off other options. It means being accountable for the outcome. It means that if it goes wrong, you made that call. And if the decision involves delivering unwelcome news, challenging the status quo, or asking something difficult of your team, there is the added uncertainty of other people’s reactions – how will they take it, what will they think, will this damage the relationship? Not deciding keeps all of that at bay. For now.
The cost is real, even when it’s invisible. Teams notice when decisions aren’t being made. They fill the gap with their own assumptions, their own anxieties, their own versions of what’s happening and why. The longer a decision sits, the more energy it consumes – yours and everyone else’s. Indecision has a weight that accumulates quietly until it becomes very hard to ignore.
Some questions to consider
So if you suspect you sometimes procrastinate rather than deliberately choosing not to decide, here are a few questions to consider:
- What specifically am I waiting for – and when will I have it?
- Why is this information important to the decision?
- If I knew the outcome would be fine either way, would I still be waiting?
- Am I gathering information, or am I gathering reassurance?
- What is the cost of not deciding – to my team, to the work, to me?
- If I were being my most courageous self – what would I decide?
- If a trusted colleague asked me directly why I haven’t made this call yet, what would I say?
That last question in particular is worth pausing on. One of the most useful things you can do when you suspect you might be in the wrong kind of waiting is to say it out loud to someone who will ask you the questions you are not asking yourself. Not to be told what to do, but to have a mirror held up. Someone who will notice when your reasons stop stacking up. Someone who will challenge you and ask what you are afraid of, in a way that is useful rather than uncomfortable for its own sake.
That is a large part of what good coaching does – whether that’s a colleague, a friend, or a coach. And it is also why the leaders I work with often describe it less as being given answers and more as being helped to see what they already know.
If this resonates and you’d like more practical thinking for leaders navigating change, sign up for the Lucidity email – I drop practical tips and tools into your inbox every week.
P.S. If you suspect you’re in the wrong kind of waiting right now – on a decision, a conversation, a change that keeps getting deferred – coaching with me might be exactly the right place to think it through. Book a call and let’s talk about what’s getting in the way.