Decision-Making Coaching

Decision trouble rarely looks like indecision from the outside

Most leaders who come to me for decision-making coaching are seen as capable and decisive by their teams. The difficulty is internal: the hours spent replaying options, the late-night rethinking, the sense that every choice has to be perfect before it can be announced. You may recognise some of these.

• ✦You revisit a decision you have already announced because one new piece of information appeared.
• ✦By late afternoon you are approving things just to clear the list, or postponing everything that needs real thought.
• ✦You ask for one more analysis, one more meeting, one more opinion, and the deadline moves again.
• ✦You defer to the most senior voice in the room even when your own reading of the situation is different.
• ✦In a family-owned business, you weigh every option against how it will land with relatives as well as with the business.
• ✦You make good decisions for others but stall on the ones about your own career.

Three patterns sit under most stalled decisions

When we slow a decision down in session, one of three patterns usually appears. Naming which one is yours matters, because each needs a different response.

Deciding with incomplete information is a skill, not a gamble

Senior roles rarely offer complete data. Markets move, a regulator has not yet confirmed its position, a restructure is half announced. Waiting for certainty is itself a decision, and usually the most expensive one.

In coaching we practise a different stance. You get clear on what you know, what you are assuming and what you cannot know in time. You decide what would change your mind and set a point to review it. Then you commit and communicate, including the uncertainty. Teams often trust a leader more, not less, when they can see the reasoning.

If overthinking is the main issue, my article on how to stop overthinking decisions gives you practical steps to try before we meet.

Pressure changes how you think, so we train the moment as well as the method

Decision frameworks are useful, but most leaders already know them. What breaks down is the state they are in when the decision arrives: tired, defensive, rushed or keen to please.

This is where my mental fitness work as a Positive Intelligence® coach comes in. We identify the inner voices that hijack your judgement, such as the Controller who needs certainty or the Pleaser who needs approval, and build short habits that bring you back to a calmer, clearer place before you decide. Leadership isn’t built from the outside in; it grows from the inside out, and decision-making is no exception.

What happens in our first session

1. 01

   Bring one live decision

   We start with a real choice in front of you now, not a hypothetical. It might be a hire, an investment, a restructure or a personal career move.

2. 02

   Trace how you are approaching it

   I ask questions about what you have considered, who you have consulted, what you are avoiding and what you are telling yourself about the risk.

3. 03

   Find the pattern

   Together we notice which habit is slowing you down or rushing you, and where it has shown up before.

4. 04

   Agree a next step

   You leave with one decision point, one experiment to try before our next session, and a clearer sense of what you actually want.

My background is in watching how decisions really get made

I spent more than 26 years in leadership, HR and talent development across financial services, FMCG, entrepreneurship and government. Much of that work was alongside executive teams in growth and transformation, where I saw who was consulted, who was bypassed, and how often a delay was emotional rather than analytical.

Today I am an ICF Professional Certified Coach with more than 4,500 coaching hours. Sessions usually run weekly or every two weeks, and every engagement is personalised. Decision-making often sits alongside other goals in one-to-one executive coaching, and when the pressure itself is the main problem, resilience coaching may be the better starting point.