Analysis paralysis: A call for action

I N his book, The Trouble with Nigeria, eminent African novelist and critic, Chinua Achebe, said, “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership.” Others have identified Nigeria’s, nay Africa’s, problems to include corruption, bad governance, political instability, unemployment, population explosion, religious and ethnic conflicts, diseases and environment degradation. But this writer is of the view that beyond all the societal ills enumerated above by Chinua Achebe and other well-meaning analysts and critics, there is yet another challenge Nigerians – in both private and public institutions or even our private and public lives – are facing: It is analysis paralysis!

For the uninitiated, this refers to the state of over-analyzing a situation so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralysing the outcome. Individuals and organisations do not do enough when it comes to implementing plans, decision making and achieving results.  Quite often, they spend more time on meetings, analysis, and deliberations – activities that are deemed counter-productive to good governance.  As we often say in this part of the world, “common knowledge is not common anymore”, hence, the need to reiterate the call for action to “Analysis Paralysis Syndrome”. The people increasingly look to the government and their leaders to envision, inspire and lead the change, of which they have every right to. So when you ask them about their expectations from their leaders, you would hear each describe the need for a leader who is passionate, inspiring, a creative problem solver, an innovator, someone with the courage to lead, the list is endless – since we know that meaningful change will not occur without leaders who possess the vision, courage and skills to lead the process.

Rather than proffering timely solutions, people in leadership positions – either in our homes, families, workplaces and government – who are saddled with the responsibility of delivering on given tasks keep going back and forth to the drawing board, all the while getting nowhere on important projects and decisions. Delaying action while over-analyzing information clearly does not help when it comes to getting things done.  In fact, research has shown that, on average, people spend more than half their work hours receiving and managing information rather than using it to do what needed to be done.

Consistent with the above is the time spent deliberating in meetings. Scholars have argued that most senior and executive management meetings are mediocre and not necessary, “not about coordination but about a bureaucratic excuse-making and playing politics. Decision makers are now addicted to meetings that insulate them from the work they ought to be doing.”

Traditional meetings (formality) create an unnecessary culture of compromise that kill the sense of urgency, in which a false sense of urgency is created – a perfect cover up for inefficiency and laziness. Often times we have heard about meetings / deliberations or proceedings that were cancelled or suspended indefinitely and such were never revisited. The question that comes to mind is: what becomes of the time and resources invested in such deliberations?

It gets even worse when government through its bodies: institutions, parastatals, committees, etc, over-analyse a situation than it is usually necessary. The repetitive deliberations, postponements, fact-finding missions and many more legitimate ways of doing nothing and getting paid handsomely causes productivity to drop drastically, while the confidence in the system plummet even further. All of these are convenient for the bureaucrats. After all, they know they will get paid, but what happens to the investor who has funds borrowed and tied down. What becomes of his faith? For how long should he continue to service a loan that is yet to be put to effective use? These are some of the questions that beg for answers.

I appreciate the fact that virtually all meaningful decisions, action plans, strategy, etc, must be deliberated on, and important policies and regulations must go through due process. However, it has become necessary to call our attention to the point of saturation – a state of “analysis paralysis”. It is one thing to learn, explore and absorb all the “experts” ideas, plans, inspiration and motivation. It is another thing to take timely actions in the lifespan of what is being acted upon, as whatever decision reached after the lifespan does not count towards anything really! It is not enough to just call for meetings – closed door or open door, we have to at some point do what is necessary – Action over plans. There comes a time when any more thinking, deliberation and analyzing becomes counter-productive.

As a nation, we just must start to move forward. We can analyze so much that no decision is made. There are evidences of government’s poor implementation drive all around for example and a lot of pending projects substantiates these. For instance, the reason while a great innovation at birth is yet to materialise is because a bill is yet to be passed into law after six good months of deliberations (half of the financial year). While, in some cases, the appointment of committees and sub-committees to oversee a project alone can take the best part of one year. The decision-makers in this part of the world do not seem to be in a hurry about anything, particularly when it comes to their primary assignments – decision making. Since the more hours spent on the job attracts more pay all at the detriment of the people counting on the outcomes of the decisions reached.

While I appreciate articles that critique and challenge, I believe that they must include recommendations and suggestions that add to the discussion about solutions. This article raises very important points which merit serious discussion. It is not my intention to mock our society about the lack of professional leadership skills. In order to raise the importance of action over plans and the need for our lawmakers to be more adept, innovate or perhaps be more accountable for their actions / in-actions, we all must play an active role in sounding the alarm that delayed proceedings which has led to delayed national growth. To reignite ourselves and influence our leaders and decision-makers to step up their game, realign, reinvent and change to meet the evolving needs of our individual lives, families and nation, we need to raise our voices and call the society’s attention to the need to act decisively and seize the opportunities of the present and the possibilities of the future.

In conclusion, therefore, it is important that we change our mind set from arm-chair critics and perpetual analysts to go-getters who are performance-oriented. People should be remunerated based on work done. Everything humanly possible must be done to fight corruption so as to save an already sinking society from plunging deeper into the abyss of underdevelopment and waste.

• Bashorun write from Kaduna, Kaduna State.