Most leadership teams think decisions get stuck because they’re complex, high-stakes, or unclear. But in my experience working with leaders and teams under pressure, that’s rarely the actual problem.
I’ve seen leadership teams spend weeks revisiting the same decision. Not because they lacked strategy or intelligence, but because ownership was unclear, responsibility was over-carried, and trust in the decision-making process had broken down.
Decisions don’t get stuck because they’re hard. They get stuck because of how leadership and decision-making is functioning under pressure.
When was the last time you were responsible for a big decision? What was that experience like for you personally? Consider what it was like for you in your leadership role and for your team or peers.
For me, one particular decision that comes to mind was which role to prioritize hiring to fill one of the many gaps we had on our growing team. I was the final decision maker who would send the materials to finance and HR for approval to start the process; however, I couldn’t make that decision on my own, without input from those closer to the work.
At first, I held that decision close. I thought about it, quite a bit - which role would make the biggest difference, now? I knew pretty quickly that I needed to bring in my team members as their work and day-to-day would be most affected by a new hire.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that the pressure of being the final decision-maker was quietly pulling me toward over-responsibility. I could feel the temptation to carry the entire weight of the decision myself, to protect the team from the risk of making the “wrong” call, and to solve too many steps ahead.
If I wasn’t aware, I could have easily gotten stuck in over-responsibility, over-carrying or over-thinking what decision to make and how to do it. In my work, I’ve found those are very common realities for leaders who are making decisions under pressure, change, and greater responsibility - team growth or reduction, organizational expansion or change, new roles, etc. This can disguise itself but if you look closely, you’ve likely experienced it yourself or in a team setting.
I once experienced the same decision (with different language) being made repeatedly across different departments over several years. On the surface, it sounded productive, but underneath it were layers of over-responsibility, misidentified ownership, and fear of making the wrong call.
The wrong problem was being solved over and over.
I’ve seen these patterns show up in all kinds of ways:
leaders privately carrying anxiety while publicly presenting calm
teams revisiting the same conversation across multiple meetings
endless “collaboration” without clarity on who actually decides
people waiting for permission instead of contributing directly
decisions slowing down because no one wants to make the wrong call
What looks productive on the surface is often hesitation, over-responsibility, or fear moving underneath the system.
Have you experienced a decision that kept getting revisited without actually moving forward?
A mentor recently reflected something to me that completely shifted how I think about leadership decisions: we act as though there’s only one optimal decision. Especially under pressure, we imagine there is one perfect decision waiting to be discovered. The truth is, there’s no such thing.
Life and leadership rarely work that way.
Most decisions are not about finding the optimal path.
They’re about making the clearest decision possible with the information available - then learning, adjusting, and continuing forward.
In times of pressure, change, and high-stress, most teams default to adding more:
more analysis
more conversation
more urgency
more opinions
But more input without clear ownership rarely creates more clarity.
More often, it creates hesitation and confusion.
The way decisions are being made is revealing how leadership is actually functioning in a team or organization.
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Even with well-meaning leaders, a conventional leadership model and organizational structure often leads to confusion and a culture of invisible permission-based structures. Teams defer upward. Leaders over-function. Responsibility concentrates upward toward a few people expected to carry certainty for the whole system. And under pressure, those patterns intensify - often causing delay, frustration, and confusion throughout the system.
If you’re feeling any parts of this in your team- if you’re stuck, feeling bogged down by change and high-pressure - there are things you can do to begin to break down the bottlenecks and shift the decision-making process and culture.
The first shift I introduce with teams is deceptively simple: clarify ownership and clarify the actual decision. I’m often surprised by how many teams are trying to solve problems they haven’t fully defined or making decisions without clear ownership of who actually makes the decision.
Many teams spend enormous time and energy solving the wrong problem simply because they never clarified the actual decision.
Another shift is learning to interrupt the default reaction under pressure. Most teams already have predictable habits:
rushing
over-holding
over-carrying
over-thinking
Awareness can begin to change the default pattern.
Then we involve the right inputs - introduce a sense of shared responsibility to the process of decision-making. This is where clarity of ownership vs. input is key. I’ve watched teams and groups transform simply by distinguishing between:
who owns the decision,
who informs the decision
who/what needs visibility
Shared responsibility is often the most uncomfortable shift for leaders. Many assume involving others means consensus or democratic decision-making. It doesn’t.
Clear distributed decision-making depends on clarifying:
Who owns the decision
What input is needed
And where visibility matters
That distinction changes everything. It’s about building collective clarity, and that builds trust.
And finally, decide on the right move for this moment. Ultimately, there are three ways to respond in moments of decision-making:
hold
shift
act
Our default is always to action, usually driven by urgency and the pressure to solve too many steps ahead.
This is a moment and part of the process that calls for discernment. As I’ve worked with leaders, opening up the options - to hold and to shift - can bring such relief. Permitting ourselves to open up a decision to be more than always taking action is empowering and important.
If any of this feels familiar, the next step isn’t more.
It’s looking honestly at how you relate to decision-making and how decisions are being made inside your team.
Then:
clarify ownership
interrupt default patterns
involve intentionally
reflect and adjust
This is how teams build collective clarity under pressure.
The goal isn’t perfect optimal decision-making. That doesn’t exist.
The goal is building the capacity to move through pressure, uncertainty, and change without collapsing into over-control, over-responsibility, or disconnection.
Because the way a team makes decisions under pressure doesn’t just shape outcomes.
It shapes trust.
Ownership.
Leadership.
And ultimately, the future culture of the organization itself.