Stop Being the Answer Key

Can we change the sequence? Can we hold the shipment? Can we call the customer? Can we move someone to another job? Every one of those comes to you. Then you step away and the work stops.

That is not control. It is dependency with a short response time.

Routine decisions belong to the person doing the work. Genuine exceptions need a known route to you. If the leader supplies every answer, people stop deciding and start asking.

Delegation is not dumping a decision on someone and disappearing. Define the boundary, train the call, and hold the standard. Show it. Let them run it. Check it. Adjust it. A decision nobody was trained on is a rule on paper.

For a routine sequencing decision, have the person explain what can change, what must stay fixed, and when they need help. If they cannot tell you where their authority ends, the boundary is not clear enough yet. Work through the decision together, then let them make the next one inside that boundary. When you check back, compare the result with the agreed standard. Correct the gap and repeat the practice instead of quietly taking the decision back.

When someone brings you a routine decision, ask what they see, what they recommend, and what would change their mind. Then hand it back. Review the thinking afterward, especially when the result is imperfect.

Expect practice and correction, not instant independence. The test is whether the person can make the routine call inside the agreed boundary without waiting for you.

This week, list the five questions your team brings you most often. Mark each one routine or exception. Pick one routine call, define the boundary and expected result, train it, and let the person closest to the work make it.

If it is their call, do not take it back because your answer is faster.

Go deeper: Supervisors Tell, Count the People You Have Served and Leadership: Developing People.

Marc Bradburry
Big Bearded Ginger