Frank is a new supervisor who wants to do well. Maria consistently comes in late. When he confronts her, she jokes about it. Hoping to win her friendship and loyalty, Frank is painfully patient.

Pat, a conscientious employee, urges him to do more. When he doesn’t and others begin to come in late, Pat quits. Frank feels victimized by his disloyal employees, but he has no one to blame but himself.

A frequent workplace complaint is waiting for the boss to make a decision or take needed action. It might be about a pending promotion, filling an open position, giving an overdue performance review, pricing a new product, or dealing with a customer complaint. Whatever the issue, failure to make a decision can make big problems out of little ones. What’s more, indecisiveness generates resentment and undermines confidence in the manager’s ability.

It was Frank’s responsibility to set the tone of the work environment. In management (or parenting, for that matter), what you allow, you encourage. As Frank learned the hard way, indecision and inaction can cause as much harm as a poor decision.

Sure, it’s important to be careful, and it’s sometimes wise to put off a decision or delay action (e.g., to get more information or buy-in, to let things cool off, or for other strategic reasons). But failing to make a simple, needed decision because you’re too busy, avoiding an unpleasant confrontation, hoping things will work out, or just procrastinating is unacceptable.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.