WHY CAN’T WE MAKE DECISIONS AND GET STUFF DONE?

If your team gets stuck making decisions, you’re not alone! The 2025 WEF Global Risks Report and recent Oracle Survey tell us that the increase in our volume of work, superimposed on high instability, along with an overwhelming number of decisions we are forced to make daily, makes decision-making highly stressful.

Over 14,000 leaders in 17 countries found that 86% are less confident making decisions, 85% suffer from decision distress and 72% have been have paralyzed from making decisions at all.

Generative A.I. is currently making it worse. The sheer number of decisions has increased tenfold over the last three years (74%); 78% say they are bombarded with more data than ever, and 86% say the volume of data is making decisions complicated.

Decision-making takes a lot of brain energy. The brain can tolerate just so much before it goes into rest cycle. Willpower and decision-making ability go down fast with the number and complexity of decisions. After our capacity has peaked, more data only overwhelms. After time, we get less cautious and our decisions become more impulsive.

What does Decision Fatigue look like at work?

• Meetings are devoted to the ‘problem,’ but nothing gets done.

• More data is continually being requested.

• Important decisions about products, markets, and technologies are not being made.

• Projects relating to what needs to be done become unfunded or withdrawn.

• Several layers of approval are needed before a decision is approved.

FOUR ACTIONS THAT WILL HELP

1. MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION. Dan Burrus would ask: Are you working on the right problem? We get stuck when we’re focused on insoluble problems. Burrus advises to move on, especially if you’re in sunk-cost fallacy where you've put so much into it already, you hate to let it go.

2. MAKE THE DECISION AT THE RIGHT LEVEL.

LEVEL 1 decisions are easy. Hard trends are clear. You’re sure this future will happen. Make these decisions quickly, and LEVEL 2 AND LEVEL 3 become clearer.

LEVEL 2 are decisions where outcomes are uncertain. It’s hard to predict the outcome. Instead of freezing at LEVEL 2, plot out the three most probable future scenarios and gather information about them. The decision will become clearer and move to LEVEL 1.

LEVEL 3 An almost impossible decision, one unknowable. You can’t identify the variables. Don’t spend time now; save this decision to your future scenario brainstorming time.

3. STOP WORKING PAST CUT-OFF TIME.

Studies in productivity suggest that most of us are productive for about three to four hours a day. The period beyond that could be referred to as The Dead Zone, where little useful is being produced. Productivity goes down, and stress and burnout go up. 

Make decisions in the productive zone period; for most people, this is in early to mid-morning.

Move energy-draining meetings for low energy periods. Schedule breaks every 20-minutes for brains to reset. Walk around, deep breathe, move scenes. Try walking decision-making meetings.

Decide with optimal, not maximal, information. By the time you have all the information, the window has closed, and you’re late. Because of deferments, postponements, more gathering of information, teams stuck in paralysis miss the optimal decision point. There is no payoff in going beyond that time other than procrastinating, bolstering egos, and wasting time.

4. PLAN AHEAD.

At the beginning of a decision-making process:

a. Describe what the decision will look like when it’s optimal.

b. Define who the decision is for and what their needs are. When will it be good enough? Identify two trackers who can watch for this point.

c. Define how and when you’ll know the decision has been successful after it’s made.

f.  Plan the steps you’ll take to change the decision if it isn’t working.

Don’t let decision fatigue derail your group. Focus on the right problem, make decisions at the right level, optimize the process, and plan ahead. The amount of work isn’t going to decrease, and you’ll never get it all done. Maintain forward motion and make better decisions.