Decision Velocity Is Becoming the New Strategy KPI

What’s happening

Across large organisations, strategy execution is bottlenecking not in capability, alignment, or resources, but in decision velocity. Recent research from McKinsey, Gartner, and BCG all point to the same shift: The companies outperforming peers are making faster, smaller, evidence-based decisions, while slower organisations are over-analysing, over-escalating, and over-governing every strategic move.

Internally, CSOs are feeling this acutely. Strategy teams are reporting that the time between “signal to decision” has doubled, even as markets move faster. The result: delayed execution, stalled transformations, and capital stuck in review cycles.

Why it matters

Slow decisions now cost more than bad decisions.

Because when decision velocity drops:

• Opportunities age out before approval

• Pilots linger without a scale/stop call

• Transformation teams lose momentum

• The middle becomes risk-averse

• Everything defaults to BAU

• Talent stops taking initiative

Execution speed is no longer about resources.It’s about how fast the organisation can commit. Decision velocity is becoming the new strategic advantage.

What to do next week (3 moves)

1. Run a “Decision Map” on one strategic initiative

For a single in-flight bet, list every decision needed to move from idea to impact. Then map:

• who actually makes them

• how long each takes

• where they stall

Where decisions bottleneck is where strategy slows.

2. Set a 72-hour rule for low-risk decisions

Anything that:

• doesn’t impact customers,

• doesn’t change spend,

• and carries reversible risk

…should be made in three days or less. This alone unclogs 30–40% of strategic work.

3. Introduce a monthly “decision acceleration” forum

Not another meeting. Just 30 minutes where strategy, transformation, and delivery leaders surface:

• stuck decisions

• repeated escalations

• risk overreach

• governance delays
  

The goal: unblock, simplify, and push decisions back down.