August 26, 2025 • 16 mins
Struggling with decision-making as a leader?
In this episode, I introduce the CLEAR Decision-Making Framework — a practical, step-by-step tool to help leaders make confident, timely, and effective decisions.
Time to make better decisions, faster.
Tired of feeling stuck between upper leadership and your team?
The Leadership Shift Coaching helps mid-level leaders lead with clarity, influence outcomes, and build teams that thrive without burning out. https://go.cignalpartners.com/leadershipshift
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Subscribe at https://go.cignalpartners.com/leadnews
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Did you know the average adult makes about 35,000
decisions every single day.
I mean, this is from littlechoices like what are you going
to eat, what are you going towear?
To the big ones like how do Iset priorities?
Do I need to hire somebody?
(00:22):
Which strategy should I pursue?
And here's the kicker aboutthis.
Research also shows thatleaders spend nearly 37% of
their work time ondecision-making, but more than
half of that time is wastedbecause the process that they
(00:44):
use.
If there is a process, theprocess that's used is
inefficient or unclear.
I mean, like no wonder so manyleaders feel drained and we're
second guessing ourselves orfalling into the analysis
paralysis, which I raise my handand have to admit I was one of
(01:08):
those.
But that is why I developed aframework and it's called the
Clear Decision Making Framework,and it's real simple,
straightforward, but it's apractical way to make decisions
with more confidence andefficiency, and then you'll have
more impact.
(01:29):
Hey, welcome back to LeveragingOperations and Leadership, the
podcast where we bridge the gapbetween leadership development
and operational excellence soyou can build and lead
high-performing teams.
I'm your host, tanya D Harrison.
Let's get into today's episode.
We're going to be talking aboutone of the most important
(01:54):
responsibilities that you carryas a leader, and that's
decision-making.
Listen, we know that people ingeneral make 35,000 decisions,
so you already know that weprobably make even more
decisions.
And this is really importantbecause, decision that we make,
(02:17):
it doesn't only impact us, itimpacts the people around us, it
impacts our team, it impactsthe people around us, it impacts
our team and, depending on whatthe decision is about, it can
affect morale, the prioritiesand the performance your
performance and your team'sperformance.
Even, in some cases, dependingon how your organization is set
(02:40):
up, it impacts other departments.
So we really have to thinkabout a lot when we're making
decisions.
Two different areas thatleaders fall into when we're
talking about leadership is theyeither overanalyze everything,
which is ultimately going todelay the progress, or react too
(03:05):
quickly, which ignoreslong-term impact and the impact
of others.
And here's the thing when youlearn to make better decisions,
you literally shift from beingseen as a reactive leader who's
always responding to what'surgent, to a strategic and
(03:28):
intentional leader who sets thepace and direction for the team.
If you are in middle management,this is extremely important in
positioning you for your nextlevel.
In positioning you for yournext level, the objective isn't
to aim for perfect decisions.
It's to use a process thathelps you make the best possible
(03:56):
decision with the informationyou have at the time the
information that's available toyou at the time, and that's
where my clear decision-makingframework comes in.
So let's talk about how itworks.
Like I said, it's reallystraightforward.
The C in clear is to clarifythe issue.
(04:17):
Now, this is extremelyimportant.
What are you really deciding?
And often, what looks like theproblem may not actually be the
problem.
So getting to the root causeand identifying with as much
clarity as possible what theactual issue is is going to be
(04:41):
imperative.
Right, because you're providinga solution for the issue.
If you're looking at itincorrectly, or the issue that
you think it is is really notthe issue, that means you're
solving for the wrong thing.
The second thing you want to doL this is list your options.
Don't stop at the first idea.
(05:04):
You want to brainstormpossibilities and keep judgment
out.
At this stage, we're justthrowing things out.
We're brainstorming and,depending on what the decision
is that you need to make, thismay not just be you.
You may be brainstorming withyour team or other people.
Consider that as well.
(05:26):
E is for evaluate againstpriorities.
Now, within our organizations,we have a vision, we have values
.
You have operational goals.
If you're leading a department,your goals are going to align
at a higher level, but you'relooking specifically what it is
that your priorities are.
(05:48):
Do they align?
So you have to filter throughall of this thing.
So you have to evaluate againstyour priorities.
A is for assess the impact.
Now you have to consideroperational outcomes and the
people impact.
Who's going to be affected?
(06:10):
What are the risks?
And, like I said before,sometimes when you're making
decisions, yes, it's going toimpact.
You may impact your team, butmay also impact other
departments.
It may impact your clients.
You have to assess all of that,what the impact is going to be.
(06:32):
If I provide a certain solution,how is this going to impact me,
all of these people?
Think about who yourstakeholders are.
R this is resolve andcommunicate.
You're going to officially makethe decision.
You're going to assignaccountability, who is
(06:54):
responsible for implementingthis solution?
Then you're going tocommunicate it.
You want to communicate thewhat it is that's going to be
done and the why.
So your team understands it.
I get it.
Every decision may not be ableto come with a why, but you're
going to provide as muchinformation as possible.
(07:17):
When you walk through the cleardecision-making framework, you
not only make a strongerdecision, but you also build
trust and confidence with yourteam.
Let me just say this, and thenI want to give you an example of
how I've used this withcoaching clients the clear
(07:42):
framework.
It gives you the structure anda process that you can
definitely rely on.
But even with the framework,many leaders still struggle.
When doubt creeps in, you mightfind yourself like second
guessing, overthinking ordelaying because you're worried
about getting it wrong, ordelaying because you're worried
(08:03):
about getting it wrong.
And if this sounds like youlisten, no worries and no
judgment.
I've got you.
That's exactly why I createdthe Leadership Shift Coaching
Experience.
It's a one-on-one space wherewe work together to not only
(08:26):
apply tools like the CLEAR butalso strengthen the confidence
and mindset that allow you tomake decisions decisively and
stand behind them, because it'snot just about having a
framework.
It's about having the innerclarity to use it.
Making better decisions fasterimpacts you, your team and your
positioning as a more strategicleader.
(08:47):
If you're interested in theLeadership Shift coaching
experience, head over toSignalPartnerscom.
Slash the shift.
Signalpartnerscom.
Slash the shift.
Now I want to walk you throughan example of a leader that I
work with, and we actually usethis in our sessions.
(09:10):
So her issue was she had a teamthat was underperforming and
heavily dependent on her.
I know she's not the only one,right, this was me at one point.
At first, it seemed like theproblem was the team skills.
(09:31):
They did not have what theyneeded in order to perform the
job or the task at the level.
But after diving deeper werealized the real issue.
It wasn't capacity, it wasn'ttheir ability to actually
perform.
It was more operational.
So how we implemented the CLEARframework is we clarified the
(09:54):
issue Again.
It wasn't the skills, it wasthe fact that the team didn't
have the tools or the proceduresand the clear direction needed
in order to succeed.
That was extremely important,because if we had went just
solely based on the fact of herinitially thinking that they
(10:17):
didn't have the skills, then thesolution would have been way
off.
So this is why I say that firststep in being able to clarify
the issue is extremely important.
The second thing we did was welisted her options right, so you
could literally keep pushingfor performance.
I know leaders that have donethat and in this case I
(10:40):
definitely don't think it's theright option.
But leaders, you know, push hey, you know I'm going to keep
pushing for performance or youcould replace the staff didn't
align with the goal of buildinga sustainable, accountable team.
(11:07):
Fixing the operations did, butin the short term it meant
pulling focus from productiontime to train the team and build
these new procedures, and italso required more time of her
in making sure a lot of this wasdone.
The assessment piece.
(11:28):
So we had to assess the impact.
The operational fix requiredupfront investment, but in the
long term it would be better.
So in the long term, you know,she would be able to reduce
errors, strengthenaccountability, ease her own
(11:52):
workload, also increase themorale of the team.
People generally like to do agood job and anything that we
can help them do a better job iswhat we need to be aiming for.
Then she resolved andcommunicated, clearly explaining
why the team was stepping backto strengthen systems before
stepping forward.
And this communication wasn'tjust to her team.
(12:17):
This communication had to becommunicated to people that she
reported to.
It had to be communicated withother departments that were
interdependent on her.
You know they needed tounderstand what this was going
to look like.
So a part of it was gettingtheir buy-in for this, because
(12:37):
ultimately, people want you todo a better job, they want there
to be less errors and all ofthese things, but at the same
time, sometimes people aren't asunderstanding in what is going
to happen in the short run.
So she had to be able tocommunicate that in a way that
helped them to understand and tosee how valuable this was.
(13:00):
So, of course, the result overtime, errors reduced, the team
became less dependent on her,which freed her up to do some of
the things that she needed todo.
Accountability increased,because now you have processes
and things in place where youcan literally start to hold
people accountable, and whatfelt like a short-term setback,
(13:22):
because there was an investmentup front, it turned into a
long-term win.
The other departments wereextremely happy with what
happened because now they weregetting better results and
interaction with the teamBecause, like I said, most
(13:45):
people want to do a good job andwhen they're not doing a good
job, they start to feel somekind of way, and a lot of times
that is seen by otherdepartments, that is seen by if
they're talking directly tocustomers and clients.
That's seen in a lot of waysbecause they're not happy.
(14:06):
Ultimately, we were able tomove things forward and
everybody ended up being in abetter place.
The key takeaway here is just toremember that when leaders make
decisions with clarity andintention, they model the kind
of decision-making culture thatbuilds trust and momentum.
(14:26):
And again, the goal is notperfect decisions, it's clear
decisions, and when you makedecisions this way, you're not
just solving problems, you'repositioning yourself as a leader
who leads strategically andintentionally, not reactively.
(14:48):
You are positioning yourselffor your next level.
If this framework resonatedwith you, I'd love to hear how
you might apply it in yourleadership role and then also
connect with me on LinkedIn andshare your experience.
(15:08):
Like I mentioned earlier, thisis one of the things that we
work on in the Leadership ShiftCoaching Experience, because
it's all about helping you buildthe confidence, clarity and
mindset you need to lead boldly,uniquely, and make decisions
that you trust and create thespace for your team to thrive.
You can learn more about theLeadership Shift Coaching using
(15:32):
the link in the show notes orheading over to
signalpartnerscom.
Slash the shift Again.
Signalpartnerscom, slash theshift.
I'd love to walk with you onthis journey and help you
through some of these things andhelp to position you to where
it is that you want to bepositioned for your next level,
as well as helping you to builda high performing team that
(15:56):
allows you to invest more in thethings that you need to invest
in.
And don't forget to subscribeto Leveraging Operations and
Leadership so you never miss anepisode.
And until next time, lead well,decide boldly and keep building
your high-performance team.
Did you know the average adult makes about 35,000
decisions every single day.
I mean, this is from littlechoices like what are you going
to eat, what are you going towear?
To the big ones like how do Iset priorities?
Do I need to hire somebody?
(00:22):
Which strategy should I pursue?
And here's the kicker aboutthis.
Research also shows thatleaders spend nearly 37% of
their work time ondecision-making, but more than
half of that time is wastedbecause the process that they
(00:44):
use.
If there is a process, theprocess that's used is
inefficient or unclear.
I mean, like no wonder so manyleaders feel drained and we're
second guessing ourselves orfalling into the analysis
paralysis, which I raise my handand have to admit I was one of
(01:08):
those.
But that is why I developed aframework and it's called the
Clear Decision Making Framework,and it's real simple,
straightforward, but it's apractical way to make decisions
with more confidence andefficiency, and then you'll have
more impact.
(01:29):
Hey, welcome back to LeveragingOperations and Leadership, the
podcast where we bridge the gapbetween leadership development
and operational excellence soyou can build and lead
high-performing teams.
I'm your host, tanya D Harrison.
Let's get into today's episode.
We're going to be talking aboutone of the most important
(01:54):
responsibilities that you carryas a leader, and that's
decision-making.
Listen, we know that people ingeneral make 35,000 decisions,
so you already know that weprobably make even more
decisions.
And this is really importantbecause, decision that we make,
(02:17):
it doesn't only impact us, itimpacts the people around us, it
impacts our team, it impactsthe people around us, it impacts
our team and, depending on whatthe decision is about, it can
affect morale, the prioritiesand the performance your
performance and your team'sperformance.
Even, in some cases, dependingon how your organization is set
(02:40):
up, it impacts other departments.
So we really have to thinkabout a lot when we're making
decisions.
Two different areas thatleaders fall into when we're
talking about leadership is theyeither overanalyze everything,
which is ultimately going todelay the progress, or react too
(03:05):
quickly, which ignoreslong-term impact and the impact
of others.
And here's the thing when youlearn to make better decisions,
you literally shift from beingseen as a reactive leader who's
always responding to what'surgent, to a strategic and
(03:28):
intentional leader who sets thepace and direction for the team.
If you are in middle management,this is extremely important in
positioning you for your nextlevel.
In positioning you for yournext level, the objective isn't
to aim for perfect decisions.
It's to use a process thathelps you make the best possible
(03:56):
decision with the informationyou have at the time the
information that's available toyou at the time, and that's
where my clear decision-makingframework comes in.
So let's talk about how itworks.
Like I said, it's reallystraightforward.
The C in clear is to clarifythe issue.
(04:17):
Now, this is extremelyimportant.
What are you really deciding?
And often, what looks like theproblem may not actually be the
problem.
So getting to the root causeand identifying with as much
clarity as possible what theactual issue is is going to be
(04:41):
imperative.
Right, because you're providinga solution for the issue.
If you're looking at itincorrectly, or the issue that
you think it is is really notthe issue, that means you're
solving for the wrong thing.
The second thing you want to doL this is list your options.
Don't stop at the first idea.
(05:04):
You want to brainstormpossibilities and keep judgment
out.
At this stage, we're justthrowing things out.
We're brainstorming and,depending on what the decision
is that you need to make, thismay not just be you.
You may be brainstorming withyour team or other people.
Consider that as well.
(05:26):
E is for evaluate againstpriorities.
Now, within our organizations,we have a vision, we have values
.
You have operational goals.
If you're leading a department,your goals are going to align
at a higher level, but you'relooking specifically what it is
that your priorities are.
(05:48):
Do they align?
So you have to filter throughall of this thing.
So you have to evaluate againstyour priorities.
A is for assess the impact.
Now you have to consideroperational outcomes and the
people impact.
Who's going to be affected?
(06:10):
What are the risks?
And, like I said before,sometimes when you're making
decisions, yes, it's going toimpact.
You may impact your team, butmay also impact other
departments.
It may impact your clients.
You have to assess all of that,what the impact is going to be.
(06:32):
If I provide a certain solution,how is this going to impact me,
all of these people?
Think about who yourstakeholders are.
R this is resolve andcommunicate.
You're going to officially makethe decision.
You're going to assignaccountability, who is
(06:54):
responsible for implementingthis solution?
Then you're going tocommunicate it.
You want to communicate thewhat it is that's going to be
done and the why.
So your team understands it.
I get it.
Every decision may not be ableto come with a why, but you're
going to provide as muchinformation as possible.
(07:17):
When you walk through the cleardecision-making framework, you
not only make a strongerdecision, but you also build
trust and confidence with yourteam.
Let me just say this, and thenI want to give you an example of
how I've used this withcoaching clients the clear
(07:42):
framework.
It gives you the structure anda process that you can
definitely rely on.
But even with the framework,many leaders still struggle.
When doubt creeps in, you mightfind yourself like second
guessing, overthinking ordelaying because you're worried
about getting it wrong, ordelaying because you're worried
(08:03):
about getting it wrong.
And if this sounds like youlisten, no worries and no
judgment.
I've got you.
That's exactly why I createdthe Leadership Shift Coaching
Experience.
It's a one-on-one space wherewe work together to not only
(08:26):
apply tools like the CLEAR butalso strengthen the confidence
and mindset that allow you tomake decisions decisively and
stand behind them, because it'snot just about having a
framework.
It's about having the innerclarity to use it.
Making better decisions fasterimpacts you, your team and your
positioning as a more strategicleader.
(08:47):
If you're interested in theLeadership Shift coaching
experience, head over toSignalPartnerscom.
Slash the shift.
Signalpartnerscom.
Slash the shift.
Now I want to walk you throughan example of a leader that I
work with, and we actually usethis in our sessions.
(09:10):
So her issue was she had a teamthat was underperforming and
heavily dependent on her.
I know she's not the only one,right, this was me at one point.
At first, it seemed like theproblem was the team skills.
(09:31):
They did not have what theyneeded in order to perform the
job or the task at the level.
But after diving deeper werealized the real issue.
It wasn't capacity, it wasn'ttheir ability to actually
perform.
It was more operational.
So how we implemented the CLEARframework is we clarified the
(09:54):
issue Again.
It wasn't the skills, it wasthe fact that the team didn't
have the tools or the proceduresand the clear direction needed
in order to succeed.
That was extremely important,because if we had went just
solely based on the fact of herinitially thinking that they
(10:17):
didn't have the skills, then thesolution would have been way
off.
So this is why I say that firststep in being able to clarify
the issue is extremely important.
The second thing we did was welisted her options right, so you
could literally keep pushingfor performance.
I know leaders that have donethat and in this case I
(10:40):
definitely don't think it's theright option.
But leaders, you know, push hey, you know I'm going to keep
pushing for performance or youcould replace the staff didn't
align with the goal of buildinga sustainable, accountable team.
(11:07):
Fixing the operations did, butin the short term it meant
pulling focus from productiontime to train the team and build
these new procedures, and italso required more time of her
in making sure a lot of this wasdone.
The assessment piece.
(11:28):
So we had to assess the impact.
The operational fix requiredupfront investment, but in the
long term it would be better.
So in the long term, you know,she would be able to reduce
errors, strengthenaccountability, ease her own
(11:52):
workload, also increase themorale of the team.
People generally like to do agood job and anything that we
can help them do a better job iswhat we need to be aiming for.
Then she resolved andcommunicated, clearly explaining
why the team was stepping backto strengthen systems before
stepping forward.
And this communication wasn'tjust to her team.
(12:17):
This communication had to becommunicated to people that she
reported to.
It had to be communicated withother departments that were
interdependent on her.
You know they needed tounderstand what this was going
to look like.
So a part of it was gettingtheir buy-in for this, because
(12:37):
ultimately, people want you todo a better job, they want there
to be less errors and all ofthese things, but at the same
time, sometimes people aren't asunderstanding in what is going
to happen in the short run.
So she had to be able tocommunicate that in a way that
helped them to understand and tosee how valuable this was.
(13:00):
So, of course, the result overtime, errors reduced, the team
became less dependent on her,which freed her up to do some of
the things that she needed todo.
Accountability increased,because now you have processes
and things in place where youcan literally start to hold
people accountable, and whatfelt like a short-term setback,
(13:22):
because there was an investmentup front, it turned into a
long-term win.
The other departments wereextremely happy with what
happened because now they weregetting better results and
interaction with the teamBecause, like I said, most
(13:45):
people want to do a good job andwhen they're not doing a good
job, they start to feel somekind of way, and a lot of times
that is seen by otherdepartments, that is seen by if
they're talking directly tocustomers and clients.
That's seen in a lot of waysbecause they're not happy.
(14:06):
Ultimately, we were able tomove things forward and
everybody ended up being in abetter place.
The key takeaway here is just toremember that when leaders make
decisions with clarity andintention, they model the kind
of decision-making culture thatbuilds trust and momentum.
(14:26):
And again, the goal is notperfect decisions, it's clear
decisions, and when you makedecisions this way, you're not
just solving problems, you'repositioning yourself as a leader
who leads strategically andintentionally, not reactively.
(14:48):
You are positioning yourselffor your next level.
If this framework resonatedwith you, I'd love to hear how
you might apply it in yourleadership role and then also
connect with me on LinkedIn andshare your experience.
(15:08):
Like I mentioned earlier, thisis one of the things that we
work on in the Leadership ShiftCoaching Experience, because
it's all about helping you buildthe confidence, clarity and
mindset you need to lead boldly,uniquely, and make decisions
that you trust and create thespace for your team to thrive.
You can learn more about theLeadership Shift Coaching using
(15:32):
the link in the show notes orheading over to
signalpartnerscom.
Slash the shift Again.
Signalpartnerscom, slash theshift.
I'd love to walk with you onthis journey and help you
through some of these things andhelp to position you to where
it is that you want to bepositioned for your next level,
as well as helping you to builda high performing team that
(15:56):
allows you to invest more in thethings that you need to invest
in.
And don't forget to subscribeto Leveraging Operations and
Leadership so you never miss anepisode.
And until next time, lead well,decide boldly and keep building
your high-performance team.
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