Are you helping the process move forward or quietly holding it back?

By Dr. Michael Edmondson, Associate Provost for Continued Learning at NJIT, and Dr. Nicol Nicola, New Jersey Department of Labor, Adjunct Professor at TCNJ

The Learning and Development Initiative
Post Date: 
Monday, January 5, 2026

A recent New York Times piece, highlighted in Tom Davenport’s May 30, 2025 post, warned that AI and economic uncertainty are already “breaking” the bottom rung of the career ladder. That reality raises the stakes for leaders, because everyday decisions now shape not only projects, but people’s momentum, confidence, and access to opportunity.


So the real question becomes: Are you helping your work process move forward or quietly holding it back?

As a leader and someone who guides others, it’s important to reflect on whether you are helping or hindering the decision-making process. To help answer this question, Nicole provided three questions and observations followed by another three from Michael.

For Nicol, her three questions to consider focus on specific leadership that help leaders evaluate their impact:

  1. Do you ask productive or destructive questions?
    • Nicol has worked with hundreds, if not thousands, of people. One thing she has found is that individuals can significantly influence a process based on the questions they ask. Are you asking questions that drive progress, or are you asking questions that undermine the project?
  2. Do you create problems out of nothing?
    • Do you claim that a project will not work without first taking the necessary steps to explore its potential? Or do you embrace challenges and work to make things happen? Are you more inclined to be a skeptic or a problem‑solver?
  3. How do others perceive you?
    • When people enter the room, do they see you as an innovator who will facilitate the process, or do they view you as a doomsayer who could hinder the growth of current or potential projects?

For Michael, his three questions are explicitly tied to one of the three defining characteristics of today’s post-VUCA (perhaps explain)? global marketplace.
Continuous Disruption:

  1. When conditions change mid-project, do you help the team adapt quickly, or do you anchor them to plans that no longer fit reality?
    Radical Unpredictability:
  2. When outcomes cannot be known in advance, do you support disciplined experimentation, or do you delay decisions while waiting for certainty that will never arrive?
  3. Decentralized Complexity: When ideas and data come from many stakeholders, do you integrate perspectives to move forward, or do you let coordination challenges become an excuse to stall?

Bottom Line: Reflecting on these questions can help you understand your role in the decision-making process and how you can better support your team.

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