ABOUT THE FOUNDER

Built on 25+ Years of
Seeing Approved Decisions
‍Change During Execution

Nadia Sylvester is an independent decision investigator and founder of Decision Ownership Stabilisation™. Working alongside CEOs, Managing Directors and change leaders, she repeatedly saw approved decisions reopened during execution. That experience shaped an evidence-based method for establishing, in writing, what changed, when it changed and what authority supported it — before further commitment is made.

Read the Executive Brief →Or start Decision Screening →

Nadia Sylvester MSc

Independent Decision Investigator
Founder, Growth Catalyst Design Ltd

How can we avoid this drama?

A CEO put this question to Nadia when an approved decision returned for reconsideration.

Senior Leadership ExperienceWorked alongside CEOs, Managing Directors and change leaders.

Cross-sectorTechnology, manufacturing, retail, transport and consultancy

IndependentWritten, record-based and confidential

WHY THIS WORK EXISTS

The question was never whether the decision was right. It was where, when and why it stopped governing execution.

Working alongside senior leaders, Nadia repeatedly saw approved decisions return for reconsideration after execution was underway. Ownership changed, criteria shifted and the original reasoning no longer travelled with the work.

Decision Ownership Stabilisation™ was developed to establish what changed, when it changed and what authority supported it — using documented evidence rather than assumption.

Evidence before assumption

Without a documented timeline of what changed, organisations lose clarity, control and momentum.

THE PATTERN SHE KEPT SEEING

Large organisations don’t lose control in a day.
They lose it in the gap after approval.

The same failure pattern kept repeating in the organisations she worked for, across 25+ years

Decision ApprovedOwner, criteria and reasoning agreed.

Owner ChangesAccountability moves on.

Criteria ShiftWhat “done” means is rewritten.

Question ReopensA settled decision returns for debate.

Back at the TableLeadership reconsiders what was approved.

Decision Ownership Stabilisation™ establishes what changed after approval – before the next major commitment.

WHAT MAKES THE METHOD DIFFERENT

What Nadia Examines Behind High-Consequence Decisions

Before committing further capital, leadership needs to understand whether the original approval still governs execution.

Decision Ownership Stabilisation™ begins with a structured screening test to determine whether further investigation is warranted. Where justified, a separate Decision Investigation examines the documentary evidence to establish what changed, when it changed and what authority supported it.

All decisions, actions and accountability remain with the organisation.

DECISION OWNERSHIP

Who held authority, and who could change the decision?

Establishes accountability and authority at each stage.

DECISION CRITERIA

What was the approval based on, and what has changed?

Establishes the original conditions and where the record shows they moved.

REPORTING GOVERNANCE

When was it revisited, and on whose authority?

Traces escalation, oversight and reassessment.

The objective is not to reopen every decision. Each engagement begins with Decision Screening: structured questions about the decision, answered in confidence, followed by a written finding on whether your answers indicate a material gap between the approved decision and its execution. A full Investigation, which examines the record itself, follows only where leadership decides to commission it.

Built on 25+ Years of Seeing Approved Decisions ‍Change During Execution