{"id":21428,"date":"2019-04-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/global2020prd.wpengine.com\/insights\/decision-making-too-slow\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T12:52:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:52:35","slug":"decision-making-too-slow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/decision-making-too-slow\/","title":{"rendered":"Decision making too slow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In our work with complex organizations it\u2019s a common complaint that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/decision-making-in-a-matrix-does-it-have-to-be-so-slow\/\">decision-making is too slow<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Decisions are too slow\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/321988165?h=3c01a19640&amp;dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"293\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #2b6cb0; background: #ebf8ff; padding: 16px 20px; border-radius: 4px; margin: 20px 0; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;\">\n<div style=\"font-size: 17px; font-weight: 600; color: #2b6cb0; margin-bottom: 4px;\">\ud83d\udd0e Review Note<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 15px; color: #2a4365; line-height: 1.5;\">This legacy blog remains relevant, so we reviewed it in <strong>February 2026<\/strong> and retained it<br \/>\nFor the latest thinking, see our updated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/decision-making-in-a-matrix-does-it-have-to-be-so-slow\/\">Decision making across disciplines<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>We see two main problems<\/p>\n<h2>Too many people are involved.<\/h2>\n<p>Many organisations have not done the work to define who should be involved in decisions or are too collaborative in their approach. They feel that everyone needs to be involved in everything. Whilst this sounds democratic and inclusive it can easily lead to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/decision-making-in-a-matrix-does-it-have-to-be-so-slow\/\">decision paralysis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This can be a challenge even with relatively small organisations. As they scale they move from a culture where many people were involved in everything to one where they have to segment who can be involved in particular decisions or activities. This can feel deeply uncomfortable when people have an expectation and history of involvement. At the same time as people start to complain about increasing complexity, more meetings and slow decisions they may still feel excluded if they are not invited. It requires some very open conversations about how people want to spend their time and the implications of high levels of involvement on speed and effectiveness.<\/p>\n<p>In larger organisations, particularly in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/matrix-management-guide\/\">complex organization structures like the matrix<\/a> many people are potentially connected to or affected by decisions. If we are not clear about who needs to be involved and how then it\u2019s often safer to just involve everyone. This usually leads to more meetings and slow decisions.<\/p>\n<p>In our training we give people some practical tools for clarifying how and when we involve people and identify people who don\u2019t need to be part of meetings and decision processes.<\/p>\n<h2>Lack of clarity on the process of decision making<\/h2>\n<p>There are a range of options for decision processes \u2013 for example should it be made by the boss, by an empowered individual or should it be made collectively and, if it does require a collective decision, does that mean a simple majority, or full consensus.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also often not clear when and how in the process people are consulted or informed. Again, if we are not clear about this then everyone thinks they are the decision-maker.<\/p>\n<p>In our training we introduce some simple tools for clarifying decision processes and sequencing involvement so the right people are involved at the right time.<\/p>\n<p>In the absence of this clarity we tend to involve everyone and to assume we need consensus. Sometimes that may be necessary, but this is definitely the slowest way we can make decisions.<\/p>\n<p>If you need to speed up decision-making in your team or organization, why not delve deeper with our more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/decision-making-in-a-matrix-does-it-have-to-be-so-slow\/\">detailed guide to decision making<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In our work with complex organizations it\u2019s a common complaint that decision-making is too slow. \ud83d\udd0e Review Note This legacy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":24073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","type-blog","training-agile-and-digital","training-matrix-management","training-virtual-teams"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - 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