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Abstract: This article explores why leaders often try to avoid or delay making difficult decisions, and provides strategies for overcoming hesitancy. Common reasons for avoidance include the desire to maintain superficial harmony, fear of being wrong, and prioritizing personal comfort. However, the article argues that decision-making is a core leadership responsibility, and avoidance does more harm than good over the long run. A systematic decision process is recommended to replace fear and groupthink with diligent analysis. Key steps include clearly defining problems, gathering diverse input, establishing evaluation criteria, brainstorming options, objectively weighing pros and cons, piloting top options, following through on implementation, and reviewing outcomes. While uncomfortable in the short term, facing challenges directly can strengthen leadership and empower sound determinations that further organizational goals. With practice, leaders gain confidence in their ability to handle uncertainties through a disciplined decision-making framework.
Effective leadership requires making difficult decisions on a regular basis. However, decision making is inherently uncomfortable, as it requires weighing complex variables and accepting responsibility for potential outcomes. As a result, leaders often try to avoid or delay making difficult choices.
Today we will explore some common reasons why leaders try to dodge hard decisions and discuss strategies for overcoming hesitancy. Through a research-informed lens and practical examples, I aim to demonstrate how facing challenges head-on can strengthen leadership qualities and organizational performance over the long run.
The Desire to Maintain Harmony
One of the primary reasons leaders avoid difficult decisions is the desire to maintain harmony. No one enjoys conflict or wanting to disappoint others. Research shows the human tendency to prioritize relationship preservation over pushing through uncomfortable discussions (Thompson et al., 2000). However, turning a blind eye to issues rarely makes them disappear.
In organizational contexts, maintaining an artificially positive status quo can damage morale and productivity over time. Employees see through superficial harmony and come to doubt their leader's willingness to tackle real problems.
For example, the CEO of a manufacturing company was aware for months that a division was consistently missing profit targets but did not want to fire the well-liked division head. Eventually, quarterly losses could no longer be ignored, and the belated decision crushed employee morale firm-wide. Had the CEO addressed underlying performance issues earlier through an honest but compassionate conversation, the division may have turned things around, sparing many the disillusionment that followed.
Leaders must distinguish between superficial harmony, which ignores problems, versus constructive harmony, which confronts issues respectfully. The latter builds long-term trust that a leader has the courage and care to navigate both good and bad times together.
Fear of Being Wrong
Closely related to maintaining harmony is the fear of being wrong or making a mistake. No leader wants to damage their reputation or second-guess a choice after the fact. However, research indicates decision-making under conditions of uncertainty is inevitable for leaders and should not paralyze action (Rosenhead et al., 1972).
Fearing being wrong can cause analysis paralysis, where a leader gathers more and more information and opinions instead of choosing a path and learning from the outcomes.
For example, the head of a nonprofit was unable for months to select a new CRM system, gathering feedback from every interested party. Meanwhile, the outdated system became increasingly unstable. After several system failures forced an emergency purchase, it was clear any option would have been better than no decision at all. Now staff question her ability to make timely choices.
Leaders must accept a degree of fallibility and learn from mistakes rather than fearing them. Owning errors builds credibility, and focusing on intent over perfection allows for calculated risks that serve the organization’s larger goals. Perfection is rarely attainable, so leaders must champion progress over passivity.
Prioritizing Personal Comfort
A final reason leaders dodge decisions is simply prioritizing their own comfort over their responsibilities. It is human nature to choose the easiest path when faced with an uncomfortable task (Higgins & Scholer, 2009). However, leadership inherently requires enduring short-term difficulties to achieve long-term benefits.
Avoiding difficult conversations, restructures, or critical feedback allows a leader to avoid temporary stress but passes the burden to others and shows a lack of accountability.
For example, a VP stalled an overdue reorganization, not wanting employee pushback. However, redundancies were draining profits while low morale festered. When market changes forced decisive action, the delayed choice came as a greater shock requiring deeper cuts. Prioritizing his ease came at the company's expense.
Leaders must embrace short-term discomfort as the price of progress. Their role requires grit over gratification and serving the organization's needs over personal preference. Leaning into challenges strengthens both leadership muscles and the organization as challenging work produces rewarding outcomes.
Taking Action Through Decision Process
While avoiding difficult choices is understandable, there are better approaches to empowered decision making:
Define the Problem Clearly: Outline key issues concisely to focus thinking beyond superficial symptoms
Gather Diverse Input and Data: Consult experts, stakeholders, data sources to understand trade-offs from multiple angles
Establish Evaluation Criteria: Prioritize organizational goals and values to objectively assess the best path forward
Brainstorm Multiple Options: Consider creative alternatives beyond initial instincts to uncover better solutions
Weigh Pros and Cons objectively: Separate facts from preferences to identify the strongest practical choice
Pilot the Top Option: Test leading choices on a small scale before committing to catch unintended impacts
Follow Through and Learn: Champion decisions through implementation and review outcomes to continuously improve process
This systematic approach replaces fear and groupthink with a diligent process, empowering leaders to choose the best solutions for their organizations despite short-term subjective hesitations.
Conclusion
While difficult decisions are never easy, avoiding them is a dereliction of leadership responsibilities. Leaders must distinguish temporary discomfort from tangible organizational harms and prioritize serving their roles over self-interests. Through disciplined problem analysis and an objective choice framework, leaders can make sound determinations that move their teams constructively forward instead of stalling in hesitation. With practice, facing challenges directly becomes empowering rather than intimidating as leaders gain confidence in their ability to handle complex uncertainties. Ultimately, embracing discomfort is the price of progress, and great leadership requires embracing challenges, not dodging them.
References
Rosenhead, J., Elton, M., & Gupta, S. K. (1972). Robustness and optimality as criteria for strategic decisions. Operational Research Quarterly, 23(4), 413–431. https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.1972.65
Thompson, L., Gentner, D., & Loewenstein, J. (2000). Avoiding missed opportunities in managerial life: Analogical training more powerful than individual case training. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 82(1), 60–75. https://doi.org/10.1006/obhd.2000.2887
Higgins, E. T., & Scholer, A. A. (2009). Engaging the consumer: The science and art of the value creation process. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19(2), 100–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2009.02.002
Jonathan H. Westover, PhD is Chief Academic & Learning Officer (HCI Academy); Chair/Professor, Organizational Leadership (UVU); OD Consultant (Human Capital Innovations). Read Jonathan Westover's executive profile here.
Suggested Citation: Westover, J. H. (2024). Why Do We Try to Dodge Difficult Decisions?. Human Capital Leadership Review, 14(1). doi.org/10.70175/hclreview.2020.14.1.9
