Stop being your company's help desk: a simple guide to decision rights
If your team asks you everything, the problem is usually unclear decision rights. A 20-minute exercise to hand over decisions, not just tasks.
Are you the CEO, or the company help desk?
If your day is full of “quick questions”, your team isn’t lazy. They don’t know which decisions are theirs. So they ask, and you answer, and the cycle repeats.
Tasks versus decisions
“Send the quote” is a task. “You can approve any quote below an agreed limit” is a decision.
When you delegate tasks but keep every decision, the work still comes back to your desk. Delegating decisions is what actually frees your time.
The 20-minute decision rights exercise
Sit down with each manager and write three lists together:
- Decide alone: decisions they own completely. They don’t need to tell you.
- Decide and inform: they decide, then let you know.
- Ask first: decisions that still come to you.
For each item on the first two lists, write the limit: a money amount, a risk level, or a type of customer.
Then the hardest part: stop answering questions that belong on the first list. Point back to the rule.
Decisions founders should keep
Delegate almost everything except:
- Where the company is going.
- Who sits in the key seats.
- How cash is spent above a set limit.
Find your repeated questions
For one week, write down every question your team asks you. At the end of the week, group them. Most will repeat. Turn each group into a short rule, a one-page guide or a decision right.
It feels slower for two weeks
Expect some mistakes at first. That’s the price of a team that can work without you. Most founders get hours back within a month.
If you want help finding where you’re the bottleneck, read 5 signs you are the bottleneck in your business or book a Clarity Call.
So, how might we answer each question once, not every day?