The Chain Reaction of the Non-Decision Decision…DeMarco Banter

Of ever increasing popularity in leadership circles is the non-decision decision. You know what I am talking about. You have seen it when a leader is confronted with a tough decision and he/she abdicates the decision by not making a choice.

My good friend Geddy Lee is very fond of saying: “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” Just give a quick listen to Geddy as he sings Rush’s Free Will

This leadership stuff is hard, and part of it is indeed making the tough calls. Some of the toughest leadership decisions a leader will face are those concerning poor performers. If a leader does not have a well thought out philosophy to effectively deal with these situations, it WILL hurt the organization.

The non-decision decision will harm the units ability to achieve its mission.
It will impact the morale of the organization’s superstars.
It will degrade the leader’s own creditably,
AND ultimately the low performer’s ability to grow and build future effectiveness is impacted.

It’s not easy…it’s not fun, but in the end the non-decision decision hurts more than it could possibly ever help. One of the most difficult decisions is ending someone’s career, but terminating a poor performer ultimately benefits the organization and everyone in it.

FREE WILL: Songwriters
Geddy Lee;Alex Lifeson;Neil Elwood Peart

There are those who think
That life has nothing left to chance
A host of holy horrors
To direct our aimless dance

A planet of playthings
We dance on the strings of powers we cannot perceive
The stars aren’t aligned or the gods are malign
Blame is better to give than receive

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill
I will choose a path that’s clear, I will choose freewill

There are those who think
That they were dealt a losing hand
The cards were stacked against them
They weren’t born in Lotus Land

All preordained, a prisoner in chains
A victim of venomous fate
Kicked in the face, you can pray for a place
In heaven’s unearthly estate

Each of us, a cell of awareness
Imperfect and incomplete
Genetic blends with uncertain ends
On a fortune hunt that’s far too fleet

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