Spontaneous Decision-Maker: you decide in the moment and adjust as you go

You decide in the moment, almost on impulse, and feel comfortable adjusting course as you go instead of planning everything in advance.

Speed isn’t just a side effect of how you decide: it is, in itself, part of what you value about the process.

Deciding now: the trait that defines this style

In Susanne Scott and Reginald Bruce’s decision-making style questionnaire (1995), the spontaneous style stands out for a sense of immediacy and a desire to get through the decision-making process as quickly as possible.

Unlike the intuitive style, which relies on a general impression built from experience, the spontaneous style values the immediacy of the act of deciding itself, almost as a personal style trait rather than a calculated strategy.

The data place this style well among its neighbors. In Jozef Bavoľár and Oľga Orosová’s study (2015) of 427 Slovak students, the spontaneous style correlated positively with the intuitive style (r = 0.30) and with the avoidant style (r = 0.31), and negatively with the rational style (r = -0.49). Our reading of that pattern: both the person who decides instantly and the person who postpones share a wish to get out of the uncomfortable moment of deliberation as soon as possible, although they resolve it in opposite directions.

How this style shows up in practice

• Decisions get made with very little prior deliberation, even when there would be time to think them through more.
• Discomfort with other people’s indecision can be greater than with your own: “we need to decide now” is a familiar line.
• Mistakes and later adjustments are tolerated well, without dwelling much on what’s already been decided.
• It works especially well in fast-changing environments, where speed matters more than exhaustive planning.

An example: at a team meeting, a supplier has to be chosen for an event three weeks away. While others ask for a couple more quotes, Alex proposes the second one on the list, which he already knows, and offers to renegotiate if something better comes up. The following week he changes a detail of the menu without making a fuss. The decision worked out, and what he valued most was not having the question hanging open for days.

Speed isn’t the same as little deliberation

Research on fast decisions in companies qualifies the idea that going fast means thinking little. Kathleen Eisenhardt (1989) studied in depth how the executive teams of eight microcomputer firms made decisions, in an industry that was changing at great speed. Her conclusions were counterintuitive:

• The fastest teams used more information, not less, especially real-time operational data.
• They considered more alternatives at once, instead of examining them one after another.
• They consulted experienced counselors and connected each strategic decision with the others and with their tactical plans.
• In that environment, fast decisions made this way were associated with better performance.

It’s a case study meant to build theory, not a general proof, but it leaves a useful distinction for this profile: the speed that works in fast-changing environments usually comes from having the information already in front of you and several options ready, not from skipping deliberation. The spontaneous style, as the questionnaire measures it, mainly describes the latter: a liking for closing things quickly.

What the data say about decision-making competence

Bavoľár and Orosová compared the five styles with a battery of decision-making competence tasks (the Adult Decision-Making Competence battery by Bruine de Bruin, Parker and Fischhoff, 2007), which measures, among other things, resistance to how an option is framed, consistent application of decision rules and consistency in judging risks.

The spontaneous style was, along with the avoidant style, one of the two that predicted lower scores on that battery (β = -0.29). On the other hand, it was unrelated to wellbeing, stress or depressive symptoms. In other words, deciding fast wasn’t associated with feeling worse, but it was associated with more slip-ups on tasks where a second look changes the answer.

Where speed stops being an advantage

The risk with this style shows up in weightier decisions, where “adjusting as you go” has a much narrower margin: large financial commitments, major career changes or decisions that are hard to reverse.

In those cases, the data above suggest the value lies in a short pause before committing, just long enough for a second look, without giving up the agility that characterizes this profile in every other situation. For financial or career decisions of real weight, no style replaces specific information or, if needed, the judgment of a qualified professional.

If you’d rather analyze the available information before deciding, instead of deciding first and adjusting after, check out the rational decision-maker profile. You can go back to your full result in the What’s My Decision-Making Style? test.

Sources

• Bavoľár, J. and Orosová, O. (2015). Decision-making styles and their associations with decision-making competencies and mental health. Judgment and Decision Making, 10(1), 115-122. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1930297500003223
• Bruine de Bruin, W., Parker, A. M. and Fischhoff, B. (2007). Individual differences in adult decision-making competence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(5), 938-956. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.5.938
• Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Making fast strategic decisions in high-velocity environments. Academy of Management Journal, 32(3), 543-576. https://doi.org/10.2307/256434
• Scott, S. G. and Bruce, R. A. (1995). Decision-making style: The development and assessment of a new measure. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 55(5), 818-831. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164495055005017