Decision Coaching
A structured process that makes you work through your own reasoning until it holds up or falls apart.
More analysis will not help you decide
Most decision support follows the same pattern. You bring a problem to someone. They go away, study it, come back with a document. A consultant delivers a report. A risk team delivers a register. An advisor delivers recommendations.
You get a stack of paper and a feeling of due diligence. You still have not decided.
Decision coaching works from the other direction. Instead of adding more information, it forces you to examine what you already believe. What are you trying to achieve? What are you assuming to be true? Where are those assumptions most vulnerable?
The distinction matters. A consultant who studied your plant-closure decision for six weeks can tell you everything that might go wrong. Decision coaching makes you articulate what you are trying to achieve by closing it, what you are assuming will happen when you do, and whether those assumptions can bear the weight of the decision. That is the gap between analysing and deciding.
A decision-making framework, not a consulting engagement
The coaching process behind the Walk is based on the Universal Decision-Making Method, a decision-making framework developed by Grant Purdy and Roger Estall over decades of advisory practice. Purdy shaped ISO 31000, the world’s risk management standard, then moved beyond it when he concluded the entire apparatus was solving the wrong problem.
The decision-making process has five steps. Each one earns the next:
- Purpose. What are you trying to achieve, and for whom?
- Options. What are you actually considering doing?
- Assumptions. What are you relying on to be true? How significant is each assumption to the outcome?
- Sufficient certainty. Do you have enough evidence to proceed, given what is at stake?
- Monitoring. What would tell you the decision needs revisiting?
Decision coaching guides you through each step for one specific decision. The output is not a report for your shelf. It is a Decision Record: what you decided, what you assumed, and what would trigger a review.
Who decision coaching is for
Decision coaching is for anyone facing a decision where the stakes justify clear reasoning. Executives with a board decision on their desk. Founders choosing between two paths. Board members evaluating a proposal. Individuals making high-consequence personal decisions.
You do not need a background in risk management or decision science. The process assumes only that you are the person who has to live with the decision and that you are willing to examine your own assumptions honestly.
Frequently asked questions
What is decision coaching?
Decision coaching is a structured process where a decision coach guides you through your own reasoning about a specific decision. Unlike consulting, which delivers recommendations, decision coaching makes you examine your assumptions and articulate your logic until you reach sufficient certainty to act. The Walk is a decision coaching tool built on the Universal Decision-Making Method.
How is decision coaching different from consulting?
A consultant studies your problem and delivers a report. A decision coach walks you through your own thinking using a structured decision-making framework. The output is not advice from someone else but a Decision Record that captures your reasoning, your assumptions, and what you will monitor after acting. You remain the Decider throughout.
Who is decision coaching for?
Anyone facing a decision where the stakes justify clear reasoning. Executives with a board decision on their desk. Founders choosing between two paths. Board members evaluating a proposal. Individuals making high-consequence personal decisions. No background in risk management or decision science is required.
What decision-making framework does the Walk use?
The Walk uses the Universal Decision-Making Method developed by Grant Purdy and Roger Estall. It is a five-step decision-making process: frame the decision (Purpose, opportunity, intended outcome), develop options, surface and rank assumptions, reach sufficient certainty, and design monitoring. The method applies to any decision at any scale.
Try decision coaching on a decision you are facing.
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