The cost of being the answer
When the owner makes every call, managers stop thinking and start asking. Customers wait, problems wait, and the owner spends the busiest weeks of the year answering questions someone else could handle.
Take a decision inventory
For two weeks, write down every decision people bring to you and who brought it. Most owners find the same few dozen questions repeating: discounts, schedule changes, parts orders, warranty calls, refunds, and hiring.
Sort and hand off
- Keep: decisions only the owner should make, such as strategy, major purchases, senior hires, and anything that puts the business at risk
- Hand off with a limit: decisions a manager can make up to a set amount, such as a discount or a parts order
- Hand off fully: decisions a manager can make outright once they know the standard
Make the handoff stick
Write down each handed-off decision with its limit and its owner, and tell the team who now decides what. When a manager brings you a decision they own, ask what they recommend, then let them make it. Review the list in your weekly leadership meeting, and widen the limits as trust builds.