A call to action

I am a ‘doer’ by nature – someone who favors action over inaction. As a result, I thrive on working in an environment of calculated risk taking and swift decision making.

In recent years, I’ve come to recognize that I have a bias for action – a phrase which has moved into the mainstream largely thanks to Jeff Bezos making it one of Amazon’s 14 Leadership Principles:

Bias for Action

Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk taking.

This sounds straightforward, yet people often find the principle difficult to put into practice. Why is this?

Paralysis and procrastination

We’ve all heard of ‘analysis paralysis’ – the inability to act because of overthinking a problem. You keep amassing data, debating the pros and cons of alternatives, analyzing more data, asking someone else for their opinion… The more you weigh up alternatives and imagine the downsides of each, the more afraid you become to take a decision and make a mistake.

And before you know it, the opportunity has gone.

In business, decisive action always beats procrastination. I recently led on the update of our Greif Business System (GBS), which involved bringing together multiple interconnected parts from across the business into a new framework for working. Balancing processes, tools, people, mindset and culture was a complex task – and we could very easily still be reviewing, analyzing and debating today! However, instead we identified our goals, made key changes, and launched GBS 2.0 in the knowledge that we could continue to make improvements. As a result, we are already reaping the benefits of our bias for action.

To quote Winston Churchill, “Perfection is the enemy of progress”. Have the confidence to keep moving forward in the knowledge that you have the resilience to deal with whatever happens next.

Intentional leadership

Intentional leadership and bias for action go hand in hand.

As intentional leaders, we are clear about what we want to accomplish, have a plan, and work each day to achieve this in a deliberate, purposeful way. We know what we’re doing and why. We keep an eye on the horizon and don’t leave things to chance. We intervene, take a decision, and act boldly to make things better.

Sometimes we need to act today to avoid more draconian measures in the future. Intentional leadership with a bias for action is responsible leadership.

Make it happen

Having a bias for action comes more naturally to some than others. However, I believe that it is a trait we can all develop in a psychologically safe, agile working environment.

To encourage action in others, create a workplace environment of trust, shared values and confidence. Team members need to feel empowered to make decisions, take risks and act without fear of retaliation or humiliation. As a business, streamline your internal processes to enable an agile response to quick decision-making. At Greif, we have updated our business system to provide us with a flexible framework, ways of working, metrics and governance that support our organizational bias for action.

If as an individual you have a natural tendency to procrastinate, start by focusing on relatively low-risk situations and small decisions. Force yourself not to overthink things, assess problems quickly, and take decisive action. As you build your ‘risk tolerance’ and get comfortable with being uncomfortable, start challenging yourself to make bigger, bolder decisions. Have a growth mindset and believe in your ability to improve.

It is important to accept that you will make the occasional mistake along the way. Getting things wrong is an inevitable consequence of having a bias for action but decisions are rarely irreversible. The key is to have the resilience to learn, adapt and come back stronger.

Procrastination never pays – so what are you waiting for?