The Hidden Cost of Slow Decisions: Why 61% of Meeting Time Gets Wasted

What McKinsey discovered about decision-making and why it still matters

👋 Hi, it's Rinaldo. Every week or two, I share actionable strategies to help you clarify your message, drive decisions, and grow your influence at work regardless of your role or title.

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When I was speaking at a corporate event two years ago, one of the attendees pulled me aside during break. "Want to hear something ridiculous?" they asked. Their team had spent six months deciding on an express checkout option. Six months. By the time they finally chose, the entire competitive landscape had shifted.

This story won't surprise anyone who's sat through endless "alignment meetings." McKinsey studied this phenomenon across 1,259 participants globally and found something striking: the average manager wastes 61% of their decision-making time.

(Yes, this research is from 2019, but if anything, remote work and Slack have made decision-making even more complex.)

The $250 Million Question

How expensive is bad decision-making?

McKinsey did the math: Take a Fortune 500 company with 56,400 employees. Assume 20% are managers making median salaries. Factor in how much time they spend on decisions (37% of their work week). Now calculate 61% of that being wasted.

Result: 530,000 lost days per year. Quarter of a billion dollars. Gone.

But here's where it gets interesting...

The Paradox Nobody Talks About

Common wisdom says important decisions need time. Deliberation. Analysis. More meetings.

The data says the opposite.

Organizations that make decisions quickly are TWICE as likely to make high-quality decisions.

Speed doesn't hurt quality. Speed correlates with quality.

Why? Because the same disciplines that create speed – clear ownership, defined processes, empowerment – also create better outcomes.

Three Types of Decisions (And Why Most Organizations Fail at All Three)

McKinsey identified three decision categories. Each one breaks differently:

🎲 BIG BETS

The make-or-break choices: pivots, acquisitions, platform decisions

• Reality check: Only 65% of organizations make these well

• What winners do differently:

  • Explore assumptions and alternatives beyond the given information

  • Actively seek information that would disconfirm their hypothesis

  • Designate senior team members as devil's advocates

• The impact: Companies doing all three are 2.3x more likely to succeed

• Key insight: Consensus isn't the goal, rigorous debate is

🔀 CROSS-CUTTING DECISIONS

The multi-team tangles: pricing, feature launches, go-to-market

• Reality check: 54% success rate (and these eat up most of senior leaders' time)

• What winners do differently:

  • They focus on process, not buy-in

  • Design clear coordination between stakeholders (not endless check-ins)

  • Clear coordination beats endless stakeholder management

• The impact: Proper decison-making process makes organizations 4.5x more likely to win

• Key insight: A good process with 80% agreement beats perfect consensus that takes forever

✅ DELEGATED DECISIONS

The daily choices: bug priorities, small features, operational calls

• Reality check: Only 46% done well – the worst category

• What winners do differently:

  • They actually delegate (shocking, right?)

  • Create genuine ownership and accountability

  • Foster a bias toward action (especially for time-sensitive calls)

  • Teams get real authority plus psychological safety to fail

• The impact: True delegation makes teams 3.9x more effective

• Key insight: If a decision can be reversed, it shouldn't need approval

The Layer Problem

Want to predict decision-making quality at any organization? Count the layers.

The data is brutal:

• 1-3 reporting layers: 70% make high-quality decisions

• 4-6 layers: 53% succeed

• 7+ layers: Only 45% make quality decisions

Every layer added is a tax on decision speed AND quality. The express checkout decision that took six months? Bet it went through at least five layers of approval.

Middle managers waste 68% of their decision time (trapped between layers), while even C-suite executives waste 57% – nobody is immune to organizational inefficiency.

The irony? The people with the most context (middle managers) waste the most time, while those with the most authority (C-suite) aren't much better off.

Warning Signs You're in Decision Purgatory

Watch for these organizational tells:

The Reversibility Trap

If decisions that can be easily undone still require multiple approvals, you're optimizing for control, not outcomes. Ask: "What's the real cost if we're wrong?" Often it's less than the cost of delay.

Decision Recycling

Same topic, third meeting, no progress. If it's being discussed again, you either lack:

• Clear decision rights (who owns this?)

• Adequate information (what are we missing?)

• Commitment to execute (why aren't we acting?)

The "Let's Discuss Further" Death Spiral

This phrase has killed more momentum than any competitor. It's almost never about needing more discussion, it's about avoiding ownership.

The 20% Who Get It Right

McKinsey found that "winner" organizations – those with superior decision speed, quality, AND financial returns – do three things consistently:

1. Decisions happen at the right level

Not everything needs to go up the chain. Winners push decisions down, closer to the information.

2. Everything ties to strategy

No pet projects. No "interesting" tangents. Resources follow strategic priorities.

3. Once decided, they commit

No revisiting in next week's meeting. No parallel tracks "just in case." Full execution.

The compound effect? Organizations doing all three are 38x more likely to outperform peers.

What This Means for Emerging Leaders

If you're building your career, managing your first team, or influencing without authority, this research offers a roadmap:

Build your decision-making muscle:

• For big decisions: Create structured debate. Assign someone to argue against.

• For cross-team work: Design the process first. Who decides? By when? With what input?

• For daily calls: Ask "can this be reversed?" If yes, just decide.

Change what you can control:

• Document decisions (even small ones) to prevent relitigating

• Time-box discussions – no decision improves after hour two

• Practice saying "I'll make this call by EOD" instead of "let's discuss further"

Watch for organizational tells:

• Count the layers between decision and execution (fewer = better)

• Notice decision recycling in meetings (same topic, week after week)

• Track time from "we should" to "we did"

The Bottom Line

That six-month express checkout decision? Classic failure pattern: too many layers, reversible decision treated as irreversible, middle managers stuck between approval levels.

The alternative isn't recklessness. It's recognizing that in most organizations, the cost of delay exceeds the cost of imperfection.

Speed and quality aren't trade-offs. They're partners.

What's the longest-running "reversible" decision awaiting approval in your organization right now?

[Source: This article draws on findings from "Decision making in the age of urgency" by McKinsey & Company (April 2019), based on their global survey of 1,259 executives across industries. You can find the full report here.]

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Good luck and be patient with yourself.

-Rinaldo