2 Great Decision-Making Techniques for When You’re Stuck Between Two Options

Stuck between two options and finding yourself going round and round in circles trying to make a decision? Sometimes the problem isn’t that you haven’t thought hard enough about your choices. It’s that you’ve become so focused on those two options that you haven’t spotted another possibility. In this solo episode of HR Coffee Time, I share a real decision I recently struggled with while planning the 2027 edition of The Essential HR Planner, and how an unexpected suggestion helped me realise I had fallen into a common decision-making trap called narrow framing. Drawing on ideas from Chip and Dan Heath’s brilliant book 'Decisive: How to Make Better Decisions', I share two practical techniques to help you widen your thinking and get unstuck when a decision feels like an either/or choice. In this episode, you’ll discover: ✅ What narrow framing is and how it can limit your decision-making ✅ Why the two options in front of you may not be your only options ✅ How to use the Vanishing Options Test to uncover different possibilities ✅ Why asking someone else for their perspective can help you see what you’re missing ✅ The questions to ask so you don’t accidentally keep them trapped inside the same narrow frame ✅ How I used these ideas to solve my dilemma about whether to bring back the wire-bound Essential HR Planner ⏱️ CHAPTERS [00:00] Introduction: Stuck Between Two Options [00:28] Common Either/Or Decisions at Work [01:22] The Book: Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath [02:43] Fay's Dilemma: The Essential HR Planner [04:27] Should the Wire-Bound Planner Return? [05:14] Asking for Feedback to Get Unstuck [06:20] Claire's Game-Changing Suggestion [07:53] Understanding Narrow Framing [09:53] The Vanishing Options Test [12:39] Getting Another Perspective [13:50] How to Ask Better Questions When Asking for Advice [14:44] Book Recommendations: Decisive, Made to Stick, and Switch [15:28] Pre-Order the Wire-Bound Planner [16:11] Closing Thanks and Sign-Off 📚 BOOKS RECOMMENDED The book links below are Amazon affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. • Decisive: How to Make Better Decisions, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath: https://link.amazon/B0heHWY2T • Made to Stick: Why some ideas take hold and others come unstuck, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath: https://link.amazon/B03KLoN5G • Switch: How to change things when change is hard, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath: https://link.amazon/B08b4npuZ 📘 THE ESSENTIAL HR PLANNER If you’re watching this episode close to its release date, you should now be able to pre-order the wire-bound 2027 edition of The Essential HR Planner. Visit: https://essentialhrplanner.co.uk 📩 ENJOYED THIS EPISODE? Sign up for my free weekly HR Coffee Time email to be notified each time a new episode is released, and get free career tips, tools and resources: https://brightskyhr.kit.com/hrcoffeetime #DecisionMaking #HRLeadership #HumanResources #CareerDevelopment #HR