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Most strategy teams know exactly what the data says. Far fewer can tell you who decided what, when, and whether that decision held.
Most strategy teams know exactly what the data says. Far fewer can tell you who decided what, when, and whether that decision held.
The gap between insight and action isn't an execution problem. It's a governance problem. And most organizations have never measured it.
Across 20,000+ strategic plans, 84.5% of strategic projects never reached completion. Three-quarters of goals had no named owner. Where owners existed, 86% were "phantom owners" — names on a document with zero updates in 90+ days.
This isn't a data shortage. It's a decision architecture failure: the systems, roles, and rhythms that convert clarity into action were never designed.
The diagnostic below measures what most strategy reviews ignore — whether your governance produces decisions, or just organizes meetings about them.
Score each dimension 1 (nonexistent) to 5 (embedded). Answer honestly. The number you get is the number you need to see.
Days between a strategic insight arriving and a concrete decision being made.
When a strategic decision is made, is one person accountable — or does ownership dissolve into a committee?
Can you trace every active initiative back to the insight, meeting, or analysis that triggered it?
Are strategic decisions explicitly risk-rated before they're made?
Do the right people weigh in before a decision finalizes — or after it gets announced?
Do you have a regular, protected rhythm for reviewing decision quality — not just outcomes?
Add your six scores. Total: 30.
| Score | Diagnosis |
|---|---|
| 24–30 | Decision-Ready Architecture. Your governance produces decisions, not delay. Rare. Protect it. |
| 16–23 | Governed but Leaking. Structures exist, but accountability gaps and latency bleed value. Phantom ownership is your biggest threat. |
| 8–15 | Insight-Rich, Decision-Poor. Plenty of intelligence. Very little converts to action. The governance layer is missing. |
| 0–7 | Governance Vacuum. Decisions happen by accident or exhaustion. Strategic debt accumulates faster than you measure it. |
Only 20% of organizations excel at decision making, per McKinsey. Companies with faster decision cycles generate up to 20% higher revenue growth than slower peers. PMI's 2025 study of 5,800+ professionals found roughly half of strategic projects succeed. The failures aren't strategy problems — they're governance problems.
Organizations don't lack insights. They lack the infrastructure to act before the window closes.
Most strategy reviews ask "what happened?" Far fewer ask "who decided what, and was it the right call?" Use this template at your next quarterly review to audit decision quality, not just outcomes:
| Field | What to Capture |
|---|---|
| Decision | One sentence: what was decided |
| Source Insight | Which analysis or signal triggered this? |
| Decision Owner | One name. No committees. |
| Date Decided | When the decision was formally made |
| Latency (Days) | Insight delivery to decision |
| Risk Rating | Pre-decision risk score (1–5) and rationale |
| Stakeholders Consulted | Names and dates of input |
| 90-Day Outcome | Did the decision produce the expected result? |
| Governance Lesson | What would you change about how this was made? |
Run this on your last five major decisions. The pattern that surfaces is your actual governance architecture — not the one in your operating model deck.
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