If Every Decision Comes Back to You, Start Here

A team member asks whether they can move a deadline. Another wants you to approve a routine purchase. A client needs a small adjustment, and the person who knows the account best still waits for your answer. By lunch, you’ve made a dozen decisions and haven’t touched the work you cleared the morning for.

That kind of day can feel like proof that your team needs more coaching. Sometimes the coaching starts with you. Have you given people enough context and authority to make the calls you’re asking them to own?

Pick one decision you keep making

Start with something frequent and easy to reverse. Take a client asking to move a check-in. The account lead can approve the change when the project deadline still holds, nobody incurs extra cost, and the client gets a revised invite. If the change affects a deliverable, the account lead brings you the options and their recommendation.

Write that rule down together. Then walk through a recent example and ask what they would do. If their answer surprises you, explain the tradeoff you see and ask what they see from their side. They may be closer to the work than you are.

Give the rule enough time to work

For the next two weeks, resist the urge to answer the routine version of that question. Ask how they read the rule. At the end of the two weeks, check how many decisions still came to you and which ones caused rework. Tighten the boundary where the team got stuck.

You can delegate a task in five minutes. Giving someone the judgment to carry it takes a conversation and a few chances to practice. Start with one recurring decision and give that person a real chance to make it.