Today’s business world seems to have what I call an intense action bias. This is the ever increasing need to take action. I am not sure if this is partly because of the current business school training or inherent to our culture. I liken the action bias to the investment bias. That is the need for people to find a place to put there money many times to their detriment.
The action bias is many times like the investment bias, meaning wrong. There are many instances where the action bias is incorrect; meaning the best thing to do is nothing.
I believe there is a form in narcissism in the action bias. The thought that I know what to do or I can fix it. While I applaud the spirit of trying, there are many instances where we can not impact the situation. Does taking action and trying harder cause better results in a grossly overbuilt real estate market, or does it waste precious resources in a traction less market. Accelerated action may simply accelerate losses when waiting is the thing to do. Should marketing dollars be spent to generate buyers who don’t want to pay the prices you want. Maybe inaction is a better strategy.
Yet, we are an impatient lot; we “need” to be doing something. Doing feels better than waiting, yet what’s done can rarely be undone, but what’s undone is still an option for the future. If the actions are not well thought out and backed by the appropriate set of facts and attached to the right strategy, you may as well not take it.
This is obviously a strategic question for people and their businesses. We are not talking about whether or not to pick up the phone when it rings or unlock the front door of the store at the start of the business day. We are discussing the big issues a business wrestles with like; launching a new product, implementing a new marketing campaign, terminating or starting new strategic relationships, going public or filing bankruptcy.
What does this discussion have to do with time management? Well, everything, because the action bias is a user of time and the opposite strategy of patience is a time saver. When you are taking action, you are using time. When you are waiting you have time, time that can be used for higher level thinking which needs to be done before taking action. Additionally in the heat of battle, thinking tends to shut down.
So think about the this issue the next time people are saying we need to do X. The appropriate response maybe, at some point that could be a good option, let’s wait and see.
