The pattern travels. Does the name?
In spring 2027 a book of mine appears in German, published by Schäffer-Poeschel. It describes a state I meet in almost every leadership team I work with. The strategy is right. The execution is sound. And the thing still does not move, because everyone hears the same sentence and understands something different, and nobody notices. In German it is Entscheidungsnebel. In English, Decision Fog.
In the book it appears as five patterns.
- Slowed Decision Process. Decisions take ever longer without becoming clearer.
- Pseudo-Consensus. Apparent agreement that does not hold in practice.
- Busy Activity without a Common Course. Many initiatives run side by side without a shared understanding.
- Recurring Discussions without Progress. The same questions return without resolution.
- Execution without Impact. Measures are fully executed, yet the intended results do not appear.
I work in both languages, so the pattern is something I have seen rather than assumed. I have watched the same thing happen in English often enough. The name is the part I cannot judge from here. Management English is a crowded language, and there may already be a word for this that I have not met.
So before I decide whether to write an English edition, I would like to hear from people who read and work in English.
Does any of this describe your situation?
Where does it show up in your organisation?
Does the term Decision Fog work in English, or is there already a better one?
Write to me at hladner@life-ag.ch. I read every reply, and I answer.
An English edition is something I am considering, not something I have decided. What you tell me is part of how I will decide.