Decisiveness vs. Certainty

I've recently begun working with a new organization, which always entails the sharing of work practices. I shared that I tend to be decisive, which can be especially challenging in moments when people recognize a potential upshot through change but are attached to the way things have been done.

Working through the rigors of editing my dissertation was excellent training ground for detaching my affections for certain aspects of past work to produce the best outcome. My rule of thumb for research and writing was to write everything, then slash out portions that I found interesting but did not lend to the overall strength or tenor of the research. Much harder, though, was turning the paper over to reviewers and watching them suggest revisions. After one particularly difficult review, I opined that two-thirds of my paper was red from Track-Changes suggestions. Nonetheless, the paper grew better as it became more succinct.

That is not to say that I don't occasionally think about what we slashed. There was one paper in particular that I adored because it touched on a very niche interest of mine (therapists' accuracy of suicide risk prediction via emotional senses and empathetic connection vs. a rote suicide risk screening), but I couldn't find a clean way to tie it in. It was like throwing a red sock into the white laundry: instead of amplifying the message, my attempts to include this paper moddled the rest of the body of literature I was citing, leaving unhelpful spots and speckles in otherwise trackable thoughts.

The conversation about decisiveness got me thinking later: is there a valuable differentation between decisiveness and certainty?

Some time ago, I watched a talk in which the speaker shared that we do better work when we stop delaying by worrying about making the right decision and choose to make the decision right. In other words, don't get stuck in decision paralysis, weighing constant upsides and downsides, but leaving your workflow in progress in a prolonged state of inaction; rather, make an educated decision and commit to following the correct processes and taking the proper attitude around that decision.

In the spirit of those slashed articles and pages of my dissertation, here are give tools and lessons I now use to make the decision right:

1. Decisiveness is not reckless. Thoughtfulness is well within decisiveness, so collaborate with stakeholders and consult outside people who might have a different lens as you pursue a decision.

2. It's okay to wonder about the outcome you didn't choose*

   *in your car on the way home and not with any level of seriousness that you are going to turn the vehicle around and change your stance

3. Be clear with stakeholders why you are confidently pursuing this decision. Since you're not making this decision willynilly, you can be ready to share this information whenever necessary.

4. Accept that some people will disagree with your choice or the speed with which you made your choice. Change is hard, and just as you have disagreement with this, you would have met with disagreement if you'd done the other.

5. Lean into the resistance. If someone is really critical, explore the concerns, collaborate on proposals, and determine what you can take from their assertions and incorporate into your decision.