How HR Leaders Can Help Teams Move Faster—The Hidden Block Behind Slow Decisions

HR Strategies
Written By Angela Justice

If you’ve ever watched a decision stall across multiple meetings, you know the signs:

  • People nod in agreement but still don’t move

  • Key decisions get revisited days or weeks later

  • Each function believes another is holding things up

It doesn’t always look like disagreement.
More often, it looks like indecision.

And for HR and People leaders trying to help the organization move faster, it can be hard to know what levers to pull.

What’s Actually Happening? Misaligned Confidence Thresholds

Most teams assume the problem is misalignment on strategy.
But what’s often missing is something more basic:

They haven’t agreed on how confident they need to be to decide.

That’s what I call the Confidence Threshold — a shared (and often unspoken) bar for how much certainty is “enough” to move forward.

One leader may be comfortable moving at 70% certainty.
Another may want near-total confidence.
Another may be solving for perception rather than evidence.

And if no one names that difference, decisions don’t just slow down—they stall out completely.

How to Help Teams Align on a Confidence Threshold

This is where HR can play a subtle but powerful role.

You don’t need to facilitate the decision itself. But you can help:

  • Ask leaders what confidence threshold they’re using

  • Encourage the team to define what “ready” looks like before the pressure peaks

  • Offer language that raises the issue directly, without creating defensiveness:

    “It sounds like we haven’t agreed on what’s ‘enough’ to move—can we make that explicit before we keep going?”

It’s easy to overcomplicate this. One well-placed question can shift the conversation—and clear the way forward.

Helping Leaders Hold the Threshold

Even when the threshold is named, holding it is a different challenge.
This is where your role deepens.

Because most leaders need help with:

  • Navigating disagreements about what “enough” looks like

  • Translating risk across different functions and perspectives

  • Recognizing when urgency is distorting judgment

And in many cases, leaders need support to:

  • See that their own threshold isn’t universal

  • Flex without folding

  • Stay anchored in what matters—not just what’s loudest

Helping leaders hold the line—without escalating or retreating—is subtle, steady work. And it often starts with helping them see what’s actually getting in the way.

Supporting Leaders Who Want to Move Faster—And Smarter

If your organization is struggling with slow or circular decision-making, try surfacing the Confidence Threshold.
It’s a deceptively simple move that creates just enough structure to get decisions unstuck.

And when that moment comes—when the threshold is named but hard to hold—step into coaching mode.
Not to fix it. But to help the leader lead through it.

Because most of the time, it’s not about the facts.
It’s about how much weight those facts need to carry.
And helping leaders name—and share—that standard is a capability worth developing.

Want to Go Deeper?

If you’re working to sharpen strategic decision-making across your org, these tools and insights will help:

Lead Smarter. Influence More.

Subscribe for practical, strategic insights built for HR and L&D leaders—delivered weekly.

    We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.
    Built with Kit
    Angela Justice https://www.justicegroupadvisors.com
    Next

    Why “Who Do We Know?” Might Be the Riskiest Question You Can Ask (and How to Hire for the Future Instead)