Coping or Redesign? What can I manage, what should I communicate, and when should I escalate?

Working under pressure is part of professional life. But when deadlines collide, information arrives late, priorities compete and capacity feels stretched, the answer is not always simply to “be more resilient”.

This interactive Decision Room places trainees inside a realistic workplace scenario and asks them to make choices as the pressure develops.

Rather than listening to another presentation about stress management, participants will work through questions such as:

• What is actually within my control?
• When should I reprioritise?
• When should I ask for clarity or support?
• When does perseverance become counterproductive?
• When should I escalate because quality, capacity or well-being is at risk?
• Why this matters

CA2025's Self-management acumen includes working independently, prioritising tasks, managing resource constraints, communicating delays and handling work pressure. Its Emotional Intelligence outcomes also include persistence, resilience, balance and appropriate boundaries in pressured work environments.

What is a Decision Room?

This Decision Room is grounded primarily in positive psychology and workplace well-being research, with a particular focus on sustainable performance, resilience, psychological resources, relationships and the interaction between individual behaviour and the work environment.

Rather than presenting well-being as something employees must manage on their own, the session encourages participants to consider the different levels at which action may be required: the individual, the team or manager, and the wider work system.

The experience is facilitated through an executive-positive coaching approach. Participants are not simply given answers; they are invited to examine realistic situations, test assumptions, consider different perspectives and identify practical actions that fit their professional context.

Where relevant, leadership-development principles are incorporated to strengthen responsibility, communication, accountability and sustainable team performance.

The experience is also informed by the professional capability themes reflected in CA2025 and, where relevant, the IRBA Competency Framework.