In the United States, the idiom used to describe the act of reaching closure on a set of choices under consideration is to “make the decision.” In the UK and much of Europe, the idiom for that act is to “take the decision.”

Semantics aside, taking a decision suggests that the decider (a term popularized by George W. Bush) is the recipient of analyses and evaluations performed by others. It implies accepting the work product of staff and underlings – who presumably have expertise in the issues at hand. The decision taker thereby accepts an option not necessarily of her/his own conception.

On the other hand, making a decision offers up the image of construction and formulation, with the one in charge also serving as the choice’s original content creator. As such, between decision making and taking, there’s a difference both in inception as well as in the pedigree of the choice itself. If one sounds like adoption, the other sounds more like giving birth.

However, any difference between the two may not have much effect on one’s organizational responsibility after the fact. So, is this much Ado about nothing?

Probably so. It’s not unlike using an active verb versus a passive verb. Decisions were reached – and perhaps mistakes were made.

Either way, once finalized, a decision must be announced to those responsible for implementation.

Happily for deciders in most bureaucracies this still leaves ample opportunity to shift blame onto others in the organization – i.e., those with neither the authority, responsibility, accountability nor control over either the taking or the making of the decision at hand.

This sure takes a lot of pressure off of being a deciderer.