How comfortable is your organization with making decisions in the face of uncertainty?

Our reader poll today asks: How comfortable is your organization with making decisions in the face of uncertainty?

• Very: Uncertainty doesn’t deter us at all from taking action now 24.22%
• Somewhat: We tend to try to resolve big uncertainties before acting 39.91%
• Not very: We’re really hesitant to act until we have a clear picture 27.80%
• Not at all: We won’t act until the vast majority of the uncertainty has been resolved 8.07%

Uncertainty is always certain. 35% of you respond that your organization is pretty hesitant to act until uncertainty surrounding a decision is resolved and another 40% of you are somewhat hesitant. In theory it makes sense that we should wait to make decisions until uncertainty is resolved. In reality, the trap is that new sources of uncertainty emerge every day. You will never have complete resolution of uncertainty. Given that, it’s incumbent upon the leader to act based on the best information available, and, when new information comes to light, possibly make a different decision. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t try to resolve uncertainty before deciding. Just realize when you’re reaching that point of equilibrium at which every element of uncertainty you resolve, an equal amount of new uncertainty enters the equation. Once you get there, make a decision and move forward.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.