Decisions stall. Approvals queue. The organization waits while opportunities pass.
High Decision Latency means decisions take too long to make. Not because the decisions are complex, but because the organization has built friction into the process.
Past failures created excessive caution. Now every decision needs cover.
Nobody knows who has authority to decide what. So everyone weighs in.
The belief that everyone must agree before anyone can act.
Waiting for "perfect" information that never comes.
Document who can decide what, unilaterally. Make it public. When someone asks "who decides X?" there should be one name, not a committee.
// Example structure
Hiring decisions under $80K: Hiring manager
Feature prioritization: Product lead
Customer refunds under $500: Support rep
Ban "let's think about it" as an outcome. Every decision discussion ends with YES, NO, or a specific date when the decision WILL be made.
Set explicit time boundaries. "If we haven't decided in 48 hours, the default is [X]." This forces action over deliberation.
Celebrate quick decisions that got corrected, not slow decisions that were "right." Speed of learning beats accuracy of guessing.
The person closest to the information should make the call. Every time a decision escalates "just to be safe," you've added latency.
Retake the GPI diagnostic in 90 days. Your Decision Latency score should improve by 0.5-1.5 points if you've implemented these changes consistently.
Decision Latency often correlates with these other friction points:
Want to see your exact Decision Latency score?
TAKE THE GPI DIAGNOSTIC