The Theatre of Decision-Making

Your steering committee just approved the business case. Everyone nodded. No one believed it.

You know this scene. The 47-slide deck with benefits nobody can verify. Timelines that ignore every lesson from your last three programs. Cost estimates assuming perfect execution.

Your CFO asks about the revenue assumptions. Your CRO flags the implementation risks. Your head of operations questions the go-live timeline.

But nobody says what everyone thinks: “This won’t work.”

The approval happens anyway.

The room performs governance. Questions get asked that probe but don’t penetrate. Concerns get raised that don’t block. Business cases get built to be approved, not scrutinized.

✔️Your CFO questions the benefits model, then signs off because “the board expects progress.”
✔️Your CRO flags implementation risks, then approves because “we’ll manage those in delivery.”
✔️Your CEO knows the timeline is fantasy, then agrees because “we need to show momentum.”

Everyone acts their part. Nobody owns what they’re approving.

This happens because careers get built on saying yes. Being the person who asks uncomfortable questions makes you “difficult.” Blocking the program makes you the problem.

So smart people approve programs they don’t believe in. Then express shock when they fail exactly as predicted.

❓Your business case promised 18-month delivery. Your gut said 30 months. You approved 18 anyway.
❓Your benefits model showed 15% efficiency gains. Your experience suggested 5%. You approved 15 anyway.
❓Your risk assessment flagged vendor capacity issues. Your timeline ignored them. You approved it anyway.

The theatre of decision-making creates its own casualties. Failed programs that everyone saw coming. Governance credibility that dies in committee rooms. Leadership teams that stop trusting their own process.

When committees become approval factories instead of decision forums, the organization learns to bypass them entirely. The real decisions happen in corridor conversations. The committee becomes performance art.

Real governance asks one brutal question: “If this program fails, will we understand why we approved it?”

If your steering committee can’t explain why it approved a risky program, you don’t have governance, you have theatre.

👉 Before your next meeting, what one question will you add to stop the performance and force a real decision?