If your team regularly waits for you to approve routine work, your availability becomes part of the delivery schedule. Start by looking at the questions that keep coming back to you.
Make decision ownership explicit
List the recurring decisions, the person responsible for each one, and the boundary within which they can act. Specify when an issue needs to come back to the owner.
For example, a field service business might give one person responsibility for daily scheduling while requiring approval for a price exception above an agreed limit. Customer-impacting delays need a clear escalation route. The boundaries depend on the business and the team’s experience.
Build from actual work
Review the last two weeks of repeated questions, missed handoffs, and delayed approvals. Use those examples to identify where responsibility is missing or unclear.
A short working document can record who decides, who provides information, and when the team reviews unresolved issues. Software can support that routine once the responsibilities are clear.
Try it this week
Ask each team member to name one decision they make and one they still wait for. Agree who should own the second decision and what information or authority they need.
Review the arrangement after a month. Check whether decisions moved faster and whether mistakes or escalations increased. Adjust the boundaries where needed.
