The world is filled with decision makers. The ability to make decisions is touted as a skill and requirement to move ahead, to get things done, to lead others into movement and action. And no, it’s not the ability to make any decision that is celebrated. It’s those that can quickly and smartly evaluate the options in front of them, layer in expertise and insights and take action; set the course. We are praised for forward thinking, understanding the cause and effect of our choices and basing decisions on immediate return and mitigation of long term rework. It’s smart.

Sometimes not making a decision is the best decision.

But what happens when there are more decisions, more forks in the road than the road itself? The natural tendency is to move through the list of decision points and make them one at a time. The problem is, in situations where every touchpoint has direct influence on the next—which is especially the case in the digital and social world—it’s not that simple. And it is in these times when discussion spinning occurs, and movement is stalled. We’ve all been there, and (like it or not) contributed to these very scenarios. Our smart “what if” questioning, and “well if we do this, what happens then” discussions begin to turn into a vortex. How do we break out of that? It is these precise moments when we need to tap into the art of deciding what doesn’t need to be decided.

What?

Yep. Take a step back. Recognize what’s happening and shift gears. Put the laundry list of decisions aside and figure out what doesn’t need to get decided. It will provide focus, and give some breathing room for making smarter choices on the points that are most important. But it’s hard to do. It forces us out of the weeds of what we are working on and into a view of the process at a higher, more detached level. I call this approach to non-decision making “art” because it really is fluid, and dependent on the time and place and players. But if I had to wrap some guidelines around it, I think they would be these…

1. Grow antennae for spinning situations. – Learn to recognize the difference between really thoughtful discussion and decision paralysis. Sometimes it’s not that clear, but more often than not you can feel it. Thoughts of “what are we talking about?” or a rising sense of frustration and stalling fill the room. Rather than let those frustrations snowball, pay attention to the nature of the discussions and pinpoint the spinning.

2. Realign goals. – Bring the team back to the beginning. What are you trying to accomplish that all these decisions are working towards? Very often we get overloaded with details because we cloud our main objective with all the options we are considering. Restate the goal, and bring everyone else on board again.

3. Break it down and lay it all on the table. – Here’s the hardest part for those that employ the art of non-decisions. We have to call ourselves, and our team on the slippery slope we are on and disengage. It can feel and sound like derailing, like breaking focus, but it’s not.  Identify all the decisions that need to be made, sift through them again, and see which ones are critical to the step above. Many times you find your attention has been spent on the bright and shiny, the more interesting or the safer decision points rather than the critical. Find those critical points, and focus only on them. By this time, everything is on the table, and the important points are clear to you and your team.

4. Hug it out and promise to visit. – Very often it’s most uncomfortable for people to put things aside, especially in a time of needing to move things forward. The sentiment often is unless everything is considered, a mistake will be made. Reiterate that all those things that are being put aside will be talked about, and decided on, just not now. Have the discussion about what the next set of priorities are and empower the team to bring them to the table when the time is right. Most importantly, pat yourselves on the back for not only doing smart work, but having the wherewithal to do it smartly.

So, how about you? Have you run into situations where the best decision you made was to not make a decision? I’d love to hear of your experience!