What Do You Do When There Is No Obvious Right Decision?

Gord Gunning

Sep 30

4 min read

Some of the most difficult decisions leaders face are not difficult because they lack information or expertise.

They are difficult because there is no obvious right answer.

There may be several reasonable options. Each may come with benefits, risks and consequences. Different stakeholders may have legitimate but competing priorities. The information available may be incomplete and waiting for greater certainty may carry risks of its own.

These are the decisions that can keep leadership teams circling a problem far longer than they intended.

Over more than 30 years in senior leadership, I have learned that significant decisions rarely arrive with a clear roadmap. The challenge is often not finding the perfect answer. It is creating enough clarity to make a sound decision and move forward.

More Information Doesn't Always Create More Clarity

When a decision is difficult, the natural response is often to gather more information.

Sometimes that's exactly what's needed.

But there comes a point when another report, another meeting or another round of analysis stops adding meaningful insight.

The problem is no longer a lack of information — it’s determining what matters.

What are we actually trying to accomplish?

What constraints are real, and which ones are assumptions?
What risks can we accept?
What happens if we do nothing?
What is the likelihood of success?

And perhaps most importantly: what decisions are we actually trying to make?

It sounds simple, but organizations can spend considerable time discussing solutions before everyone has agreed on the problem.

Creating clarity around the question itself can change the entire conversation.

Years ago, an advertising executive friend shared a one-page Decision Tree with me that represented more than 30 years of his experience in the industry.

What struck me was its simplicity. It didn't attempt to predict every possible outcome. Instead, it asked a series of straightforward questions designed to help frame the situation and support an informed decision:

Is the market real?
Is there a compelling need?
Can we win?
Can our service be competitive?
Is it worth it?
Will it be profitable or achieve cost recovery?
Does it support our objectives?
What is the likelihood of success?

I have reviewed that Decision Tree many times because the questions are remarkably useful well beyond advertising.

When you are dealing with ambiguity and shades of grey, asking the right questions can often bring more clarity than simply gathering more information.

Every Good Option May Require a Trade-Off

Some decisions are difficult because every available option involves giving something up.

An organization may need to balance financial sustainability with service levels. A new partnership may create significant opportunities while requiring changes to established ways of working. A growth opportunity may demand resources that are already stretched. A restructuring may solve one challenge while creating another.

In these situations, the goal cannot always be to eliminate risk.

The more useful question may be:

Which risks are we prepared to accept to achieve what matters most?

That requires leaders to be clear about their priorities.

When those priorities aren't clear, decisions can become driven by whoever speaks most loudly, whichever issue feels most urgent or the option that creates the least immediate discomfort.

None of those necessarily leads to the best long-term outcome.

Consensus and Clarity Are Not the Same Thing

There is tremendous value in bringing different perspectives into an important decision.

People closest to operations may see implications that senior leadership doesn't. Boards may bring a different perspective on risk and governance. Partners, funders, employees and other stakeholders may each hold pieces of information that need to be considered.

But seeking input and seeking unanimous agreement are not the same thing.

Sometimes the pursuit of consensus becomes another way of delaying a difficult decision.

Strong decision-making creates room for people to challenge assumptions, raise concerns and offer different perspectives. It doesn't require everyone to arrive at exactly the same conclusion.

At some point, someone still has to decide.

And once the decision is made, people need to understand not only what was decided, but why.

That clarity becomes particularly important when the decision involves change.

Being Too Close to a Problem Can Make It Harder to See

Experience inside an organization is invaluable.

But familiarity can also create blind spots.

When you've been working with the same systems, relationships, challenges and assumptions for years, it can become difficult to separate the way things are from the way things have always been done.

Sometimes an outside perspective can help simply because that person is able to ask questions others have stopped asking.

A good advisor doesn't arrive with a predetermined answer.

They help leaders see the decision more clearly.

The Cost of Not Deciding

We often think carefully about the risks associated with making a major decision.

We don't always give the same attention to the risks associated with waiting.

Delay has a cost.

Opportunities can disappear. Employees can become frustrated. Partners can lose confidence. Temporary solutions can quietly become permanent ones. Leadership teams can spend months revisiting the same conversation while the underlying problem continues to grow.

That doesn't mean important decisions should be rushed.

It means not making a decision is itself a decision — and it carries consequences too.

Knowing when you have enough information to move forward is an important part of leadership.

Moving Forward Without Perfect Certainty

I don't believe strong leadership means always knowing the answer. In many of the most consequential situations, there isn't one obvious answer to know.

What leaders can do is create a disciplined process for getting to clarity.