MOVE 01 · FRAMING & CLARITY · FREE
Name the Decision
Reduce a tangled situation to one written sentence: the choice to be made, who makes it, and by when.
A conversation without a named decision drifts toward whoever is most comfortable waiting.
WHY IT WORKS
Most stalled situations are not disagreements about the answer; nobody has stated the question. Naming the decision converts ambient tension into something concrete that can be accepted, declined or delegated, and it exposes when the real decision-maker is absent.
WHEN TO USE IT
- Meetings keep ending with 'let's keep thinking about it'.
- Several issues are being argued at once and none is being resolved.
WHEN NOT TO USE IT
- The other side is still describing a problem they have not finished explaining.
- Forcing a decision now would lock in an answer before key facts arrive.
SIGNALS IT FITS
- Repeated meetings on the same topic with no change in status.
- People agree in the room and do nothing afterward.
PREPARATION
- Write the decision in one sentence of under 25 words.
- Identify who has authority to make it and what date it actually matters by.
STEP BY STEP
- Summarise what has been discussed in two sentences, without judgement.
- State the decision sentence and ask whether it is the right question.
- Confirm who owns the answer and the date.
- Send the agreed sentence in writing the same day.
OPENING LINE
“Before we go further, can I try to name the decision we're actually making?”
SCRIPT
I think the decision in front of us is whether to extend the project to include the launch phase, and it needs an answer by the 14th. Is that the right question, and who should make the call?
LIKELY RESPONSES & COUNTERS
- If they say it is more complicated than one decision
- Ask them to name the decisions and agree on the order. Several named decisions beat one unnamed fog.
- If they name someone else as the decision-maker
- Ask how that person prefers to receive the question and offer a one-paragraph summary they can forward.
- If they push back on the date
- Ask what the date depends on, then agree a date tied to that dependency.
SECOND MOVE
If the decision is confirmed but not made by the date, move to Set the Next Checkpoint and ask what is blocking it.
FOLLOW-UP
Send a two-line written recap of the decision sentence, owner and date within 24 hours.
COMMON MISTAKES
- Writing the decision in a way that presumes your preferred answer.
- Naming the decision but never confirming who owns it.
WALK-AWAY CONDITIONS
- After the decision is named, the counterpart repeatedly refuses to own it or name who does.
EXAMPLE (FICTIONAL)
A consultant had three status meetings in which the client praised the work but never approved phase two. She opened the fourth by naming the decision and date; the client admitted procurement needed a cost breakdown, which she sent that afternoon.
ETHICAL BOUNDARY
Name the decision honestly. Framing a question so the only acceptable answer is yours is steering, not clarifying.
RELATED MOVES
Content version 1 · Drafted by Power Move IQ Editorial · Not yet human-reviewed · Educational decision support, not legal, financial or employment advice.