“There is probably a greater relationship between business success and fast tempo than with any other single factor.
   Tempo is the speed with which an organisation identifies problems and opportunities and makes and implements decisions.”
- Charles Ford

Decisions aren't problems, they are opportunities. Risk is implicit in all decisions. It is easy to forget this, but try to keep this realisation bubbling away at the forefront of your thoughts when decisions have to be made.

To determine the tempo of your organisation, take a number of recent, important decisions that have been made and determine when the events that necessitated them first occurred. Take the Tempo Test here >

By making a decision faster you have more time to correct it if is wrong. Time is also saved by not having subsequent meetings that would have been spent discussing the case of the decision. Once a decision is made, time can be spent on progress and other matters. A good decision made too late can be negative or not as impactful because of the delay. Think Nokia and Research in Motion (makers of the Blackberry) reacting slowly to the challenge of Android and the iPhone. The resolving of doubts and the determination to pursue the course outlined have a mobilising effect, and the chances of success is improved.

Delays in Decision Making
Delays in decision making also occurs when decision making authority is split or unclear. Clarify decision-making power in a project team or business so the path to the needed 'yes' or 'no' is clear.

Next to being right, the best of all things is to be clearly and definitely wrong, because you will come out somewhere. If you go buzzing about between right and wrong, you come out nowhere;but if you are absolutely and thoroughly wrong, you must have the good fortune of knocking against the fact that sets you all straight again.

Take the Tempo Test here >