It'll be faster if I just decide.
Until it isn't.
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Most senior leaders value speed. Especially in fast-growing businesses, pace is rewarded - get things moving, reduce the friction, make the call.
And when a leader is decisive, experienced, and trusted, it’s easy to believe that the fastest way forward is to set the direction, share it and move.
Not with bad intent, but with a sense of clarity and urgency.
You already know what direction you need to go. You don’t want to slow down. And there’s a quiet fear underneath it all: that if you open the decision up, you’ll invite delay, complexity, disagreement, or worse - you’ll look like you don’t really know.
But there’s a trap: the time you think you’re saving now often becomes the time you spend chasing clarity, fixing misunderstandings, or regaining momentum later. You get hit by silent resistance, confused execution, or projects that stall once the initial energy fades.
And then comes the frustration: I told them, Why didn’t they follow through?, Why is this dragging out again?
The irony is that in trying to protect speed, you lose it.
This is a common and costly pattern I see in senior teams. The leader moves fast, communicates cleanly - but doesn’t take the team with them. They share a plan that hasn’t been tested with those who have to execute it. There’s little room for feedback, friction, or refinement. It feels efficient, but it lacks depth. So the plan lives on a slide deck, or email - but not in behaviour or operations.
But this doesn’t mean you need consensus. Leaders are still responsbile for drawing clarity from the views shared, and for making the final call. Nor does involving people mean opening the floor to endless input.
In fact, one of the most common traps I see in leaders who know they have a tendency to move alone, too fast - is overcorrecting; giving everyone a voice, making space for every view, and confusing inclusion with shared ownership.
The result? Slower decisions. Clogged meetings. Spirals of indecision and inertia.
Ironically, this often drives the fastest, sharpest leaders to retreat back into solo decision-making - just to make progress.
Neither extreme works. Because real leadership is about knowing when to invite input - and from whom - in a way that enables and strengthens clarity, not weakens it.
The sweet spot means choosing the right people, asking the right questions, and staying open long enough before you move.
It’s about shifting your default mindset from “It’s quicker if I just decide,” and asking yourself, “What will it cost me if this doesn’t land well?”
Because sometimes the fastest route is the one where others help shape the path. One round of quality input now can prevent three rounds of confusion later.
Fast doesn’t always mean forward.
Reflect: Moving fast and making the call, can feel empowering and give you a sense of control - especially when you're under pressure to deliver. But speed only works if others (those who need to execute the direction you’ve set) are actually ready to run with you. Take a moment and reflect on your own approach.
What situations make you least comfortable when it comes to involving others in decisions?
What do you find most frustrating about trying to involve others - and what sits underneath that?
What tension do you notice between your desire for speed and your desire for shared ownership?
Learn: Inviting input can build trust - but when every voice weighs in on every decision, it can quietly drain momentum and energy. In a healthy, high-trust team, it isn’t about everyone having a say; trust is knowing when to contribute - and when to let others lead.
Where do you notice your team defaulting to ‘everyone gets a say’ - and what does that create?
What types of decisions could move faster if you were all clearer upfront on who really needs to be involved (and who doesn’t)?
How confident are you that your current decision-making rhythm balances input with clarity? What would the rest of the team say?
Focus: The way you and your leadership team make and share decisions tells people what kind of leadership culture you’re building across the organisation. Think about the decisions you’ve made in the last two weeks:
What norms are being reinforced about who gets to decide, who gets consulted, and how things move?
What are people learning about influence, voice, and ownership from how decisions happen?
What would it take to create a culture where clarity, pace, and participation reinforce each other?
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