Indecisive leadership is one of the most destructive forces in a team, because a team loses trust rapidly when their leader can’t make decisions. Importantly, being decisive doesn’t mean making every decision in a split second — it means not being in a fear-based place of “oh my God, what should I do.” A decisive leader takes the next iterative step without paralysis.
Indecision in a leader signals fear, and fear is contagious in organizations. When team members sense that their leader is paralyzed, they start self-protecting rather than committing to the team. Without trust that decisions will be made, nobody is willing to put themselves out there.
“Indecisive doesn’t mean that you make every decision in a split second. It means that you can make decisions easily or that you don’t even notice they’re decisions — you’re not in that fear-based place.”
Related Concepts
- Trust is the universal ingredient of functional teams
- Indecision means unfelt emotions
- Iterative mindset dissolves procrastination