35,000—That’s how many decisions the average adult makes in a single day. Some are trivial, like choosing to switch from the evening news to Jeopardy. Others are critical, like swerving left to avoid a 12-point buck suddenly appearing in the middle of the road. But every now and then, we all encounter decisions that stump us. In these moments, rather than the confident decision-maker, we freeze, becoming like the proverbial deer caught in headlights.
Often, this paralysis stems from an overwhelming abundance of choices. When faced with too many options, our ability to decide can come to a grinding halt. Consider this: you walk into a mom-and-pop ice cream stand. Your choices are simple: chocolate, vanilla, or twist. It takes mere seconds to decide.
Now, picture yourself at Ben & Jerry’s. The line snakes around the corner, and as you inch closer to the counter, your mind races with possibilities. Should you choose Chocolate Fudge Brownie? Banana Split? Cherry Garcia? Mint Chocolate Cookie? Peanut Butter Cup? Peanut Butter World? Peanut Butter Fudge? The sheer variety of peanut butter options alone is enough to make your head spin! You contemplate asking for a sample, but the man in the tie-dye shirt behind the counter is already staring at you, waiting for your choice.
Are you getting flustered thinking about it? Are you feeling stuck? How long will that decision take? A bit longer than at the mom-and-pop stand.
This analogy isn’t just about ice cream—it’s a metaphor for a challenge one of our long-term clients faced. Their Client Listening Program had recently transferred from Marketing to the Vice President of Continuous Improvement. The new owner of the program encountered a significant issue: his Project Managers (PMs) weren’t seeking feedback from clients as frequently as they should. After reviewing the platform and speaking with his team, he concluded that the entire program wasn’t working.
Listening to his concerns, we reached a different conclusion. The problem wasn’t the program in its entirety – the problem was that over the history of their work with us, the tool architecture, specifically the template library, had become too large and unwieldy. The PMs he’d spoken with shared that they are always extremely busy. Their time was valuable and preferably billable. Having 35 different templates to pick from every time was intimidating and time-consuming. In other words, the PMs were experiencing what we call User Pause.
And it didn’t stop there. What began as a pause escalated into paralysis, leading the PMs to throw up their hands in frustration and abandon the feedback process altogether. They would Pause, Paralyze, and Punt. They walked away from Ben & Jerry’s empty-handed.
This paralysis had a domino effect on the entire organization:
- Lack of Client Insights: Project Managers and division leaders were left in the dark about how well they were meeting client expectations. As a result, they had no way of identifying at-risk clients.
- Marketing Shortfalls: Without feedback, marketing missed out on the compelling stories and examples that could make the difference between an A+ proposal and a forgettable one.
- Business Development Blind Spots: The team struggled to identify their most loyal clients who could serve as references or, even better, provide referrals. They were forced to rely on guesswork.
In essence, Continuous Improvement was stuck.
However, after walking our client through the ice cream stand analogy, we saw a lightbulb moment. The problem wasn’t as insurmountable as he had feared. He had the right program in place; it just needed some fine-tuning. The key was to eliminate User Pause and overcome Analysis Paralysis.
We worked with the VP of Continuous Improvement to trim the feedback template library from 35 options to around seven. He collaborated with his PMs to identify the most crucial questions to ask at different project stages and communicated why this process is vital—not just for them but also for their colleagues in marketing, business development, and the firm overall. By removing this seemingly small roadblock, he empowered his team to achieve the results they’d been striving for.
So, what’s causing your team to pause? Gather your team and conduct a quick Empathy Map to pinpoint the obstacles. Need help getting started? Click here to download a step-by-step guide.
