“Choice is good.” In fact, it is a uniquely American core value!

I was recently shopping in a high end grocery store and was surprised to find that I had over 50 choices of coffee flavors from which to choose. Moving on to the refrigerated beer aisle to check out the selection for my other favorite beverage of choice, I was confronted with over 85 brand choices. It made my head hurt. My wife finished all of our planned shopping before I settled on a coffee and beer choice for our dinner party that evening. And I wasn’t happy with my choices! It turns out that I am not alone.

Recent studies have found that when we are faced with too many choices we are often hesitant to make a choice – and when we do we are less satisfied with it. This has serious implications for marketers and retailers. But it also sheds some light on why decision making in organizations often breaks down.For example, as we research business problems or opportunities we usually identify a variety of possible solutions or choices.

Normally, we think of this as a good and worthwhile activity – and usually we are right. But at some point we cross the “line of diminishing returns” and as we continue to add possible options, we muddy rather than clarify the issue. For the majority of individuals, too many options slow the decision making process and often lead to poorer decisions. In companies where I have consulted I have observed this decision paralysis and its negative consequences on the business as well as the staff involved.

Effective leaders and decision makers recognize that while it is important to consider all reasonable options, it is equally important to narrow those options as quickly as possible. It obviously takes a degree of due diligence to consider all options, but it also takes a degree of focused discipline to narrow those options to a manageable few as quickly as possible.To lessen the impact of this type of decision paralysis, consider the following actions steps:

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