Are You Indecisive At Work?

When decisions need to be made and deadlines are approaching fast do you tend to dither behind your desk, procrastinate behind the photocopier or fidget behind the filing cabinet?

If so then you could be described as an indecisive person who finds it difficult to arrive at a decision and stick to it. You may need to take your time, weighing up all the pros and cons before making your mind up and then may feel an innate desire to run it past several of your colleagues just to see how they feel about it. Then you may even change your mind.

The risk factors of making a decision may seem to be too heavy a burden and then inevitably stress and worry appear. You may trust other people's opinions rather than trust your own judgements for fear of getting it wrong and making mistakes but of course, if you are the one who should make the decisions, it is your responsibility. It is unfair to let others take the blame for a wrong decision when it was your task and accountability.

Indeciciveness is a personality or character trait that is not as uncommon as you may think. Research has shown that approximately 20% of the population is described as being indecisive.

Within the workplace it is certainly not intentional to struggle with decision making yet quite often you may already be running the worst case scenarios through your mind if you ‘get it wrong’. Quite often the indecisive person may be an over-thinker or even a perfectionist who strives to get everything right but the worry and fear causes delays or even inability to make a decision.

People make decisions all day long regarding aspects of work without even being aware of it. For example you may decide to wear your red shoes for the office today or take a slightly different route to work due to traffic congestion. You may decide to open the door for a colleague, reply to certain emails before lunch or choose to attend an optional meeting. This proves that you can make a decision.

There is no shame in asking for help or seeking a second opinion from your manager if you feel you are currently struggling for whatever reason to make a firm decision. Some degree of indecisiveness is perfectly normal but if you find that your confidence is being continually compromised because of it then please seek confidential advice from a trusted superior.

When it comes to the more important decisions that need to be made, remind yourself of the following. You have been trusted and deemed as competent enough to make decisions and you have made decisions before. Utilise all your past experiences, expert skills and attributes, qualifications and problem solving skills to gather all the required information to make that choice which will give you the confidence to make even more decisions.