Every decision in your business ends up on your desk. Not because it needs to be there. Because your team doesn’t know where the boundaries are.
I was working with a property business recently. The founder had a team member who couldn’t approve anything over $500. In property, where $500 barely covers getting the lawns mowed. Every small decision came back to her. Leak repairs. Invoice approvals. Contractor quotes.
Her team wasn’t the problem. They were capable. The problem was nobody had ever defined what they were allowed to decide. The boundaries were vague. The thresholds were too low. So everyone defaulted to asking, just to be safe.
The fix is a structure called Decision Lanes.
Lane 1 is what your team decides without you. Routine decisions within their area. Low risk. They own the result, they own the call.
Lane 2 is what they decide with an FYI. They make the call, send a quick message. Not asking permission. If you haven’t responded in two hours, they proceed.
Lane 3 is what only you decide. Material risk. Large commitments. Things that set a precedent. This lane should be small. If everything sits here, you haven’t built a business. You’ve built a job for yourself.
The first step is to write it down. For each role, define the three lanes with specific thresholds, specific categories, and specific examples. Vague guidance isn’t useful. “Use your judgment” isn’t a lane.
The second step is a time-based default. For FYI decisions, set a rule: no response within two hours means proceed with your recommendation. Decisions don’t sit in limbo waiting for you.
The third step is containment. Non-urgent decisions wait for a rhythm rather than dripping through the week. A short weekly exceptions list replaces constant interruptions.
The property founder implemented this and raised the approval threshold. The noise dropped. Her team moved faster. She got uninterrupted blocks of time for the first time in years.
Most of the decisions piling up on her desk were never hers to make.
