Sometimes, there’s too much choice (or too many people trying to make a decision). "Where shall we eat?" someone asks. Twenty minutes later, we're still trying to choose. Eventually hunger makes the decision for us and we end up at the closest place that's still open.
This morning I read a Forbes piece about fractional leadership[1] that made me think about this oft-repeated scenario; the gap between wanting perfect information and needing to make decisions that actually move things forward.
Research shows[2] that 80-95% of college students procrastinate when it comes to coursework, and this decision-making paralysis doesn't magically disappear when we enter the working world. In business, this translates into missed opportunities, and losing ground to competitors.
Successful startups that are using fractional leaders aren't just buying expertise, they're buying decision-making speed. The Forbes report suggests that fractional executives be used as "strategic copilots”, and that they bring "decision acceleration that founders often lack."
The companies that are thriving aren't necessarily making perfect decisions; they're making good decisions quickly, then adapting based on what they learn. They've also learned to distinguish between decisions that are reversible (most of them) and those that aren't (very few of them).
In business, this distinction matters enormously. Most strategic decisions - hiring approaches, product features, marketing channels, operational processes - are reversible. The cost of delaying these decisions often exceeds the cost of making an imperfect choice and iterating.
The fractional model works because experienced leaders have seen enough patterns to make faster, more confident decisions with incomplete information. They've learned to act on 70% certainty rather than waiting for 95% certainty that never comes.
What's your experience with decision-making speed in your organisation? Are you optimising for perfect choices or for momentum?
Ady Coles is a Fractional Leader and Public Speaker, working across Strategy, Operations and Delivery.