By Linda Day Harrison, theBrokerList, Chicago, IL

Do you make decisions and move forward or do you contemplate things to the point that you become a speed bump? What is a speed bump? A speed bump is the person in an organization that stops progress and/or is afraid to make a decision out of fear of failure.

In an organization, being the speed bump is not always a bad thing. However, day in and day out operations suffer when you are the property manager, supervisor, or property owner and it is your actions that delay or stop momentum. When managing teams, it is important to have a keen sense of judgment, and to be quick on your feet with respect to analysis, so that you are able to make smart decisions.

If you put a system in place to make comparisons easy to analyze, those types of decisions can be made much more efficiently. Now you have a built-in safety net that enables you to move faster, so you can keep making progress. For instance, if you are the one reviewing quotes, create a matrix submittal form of the recurring questions you always ask before making the decision. Ask your staff to submit all requests for expenditures using your form. It can be a simple columnar form that permits an executive level overview and forces the staff, or the providers of goods and services, to answer all of your concerns, BEFORE, it hits your desk for review.

Why reject requisitions over and over because your staff was not prepared with a justification for purchase? Worse yet, why let piles of requests sit on your desk, waiting for you to review them? With your form in place, you are encouraging and providing a proactive environment, rather than a reactive one. Each request can be delivered to you with a summary cover sheet to make quick work of daily decisions. Now you can move it out of your inbox and off your desk. This keeps your team momentum going, and stops you from being the speed bump!