Many successful people are motivated by achievement, and in our fast-paced world, we equate achievement with action. A bias for action is a good thing – most of the time.
Bias for action, the tendency to act or decide without extensive thought, is a revered cultural norm at growth-minded companies. It’s a big part of how things get done and are accomplished quickly.
But what if fast action is not the best response? Don’t set your team up for failure by valuing speed over everything else. That leads to mountains of technical debt, unnecessary rework, and a culture of heroes who rescue the organization from the issues created by premature actions. Heroes don’t scale.
And yet, if we think about organizations that do not have this bias, stereotypical big bureaucracies come to mind. Federal governments, where projects seem never to end, and workers are burdened with paperwork, are often viewed as staid old industries. Nothing gets done quickly in government.
Better to think of this process as a continuum.
Evaluate the Impact
Amazon’s leadership principles include a bias for action. They say, “Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk-taking.” The terms to note in the Amazon statement are “reversible” and “calculated.” This principle isn’t a carte blanche to make all decisions quickly, instead evaluate the issue, the impact of the decision, then decide on the appropriate decision-making framework – fast or slow, or somewhere in between.
When managers apply a slow reaction to decisions that require an immediate response, they create a bureaucracy. Give each action its due in terms of consequence, then decide when to move on it.
Why do we often respond too quickly and over-react?
Behavioral economists have shown that this action bias is particularly likely to occur if we do something for others or others expect us to act. Consider the tendency for soccer goalkeepers to jump to the left or right on penalty kicks, even though statistically, they would be better off if they just stayed in the middle of the goal.
When we are uncomfortable with ambiguity, we have the tendency to act too fast.
Comfort with ambiguity is a hallmark of author Daniel Goleman’s concept of emotional intelligence. It underscores self-regulation, defined as the ability to control or direct disruptive impulses and to think before acting – and it is a must- have for any successful leader.
When we’re uncomfortable with the unresolved and the ambiguous, sometimes we have an impulse to act solely to gain a feeling of control over a situation and eliminate a problem. But what if that isn’t the best answer, just the most comfortable one?
If you aren’t tolerant of ambiguity, you may take action just to rid yourself of the discomfort. You may feel that any action is better than none at all.
Just make sure that’s true.
Balance is Critical
How can you develop the right balance between action and ambiguity in yourself and your organization?
· Create awareness that there’s a continuum. It’s not “either/or,” there is a full spectrum of responses.
· When evaluating performance, and when interviewing, ask the question, “What didn’t you do?” Not what did you leave undone, but what did you purposefully avoid doing? Determining what was avoided is often just as important as what was done and can demonstrate a higher degree of competency.
· When evaluating actions for yourself, ask the same question. What will you purposefully avoid doing, and for how long, and for what purpose?
· Reward behaviors that demonstrate action at the right time, not just activity. For impactful decisions, reward thinking. Encourage the gathering of information that goes deeper than a quick internet search.
· Revered design firm IDEO suggests three specific things to increase your comfort with ambiguity:
- Plan to not know. It’s OK, and sometimes better, to say, “I don’t know.” Give yourself permission to not know upfront.
- Shift from “should” to “could.” The question of what could occur offers a springboard for new possibilities.
- Change the context. Take a walk, talk to someone else. Put a little space between yourself and your need to know and take action at the moment.
A bias for action is necessary for high- speed growth. Like many strengths, if that bias is overdone, you’ll have a weakness. And because the preference has been so helpful – and so rewarded – in the past, it may be a significant blind spot in your organization.
Remember that action itself isn’t the goal, but the right effort that is optimal for the situation.
