For founders
Why decisions keep coming back to the founder
You've built a team and given people responsibility. Yet too much still needs your attention.
Decisions land on your desk. Work waits for your approval. And the time you planned to spend growing the business disappears into the day-to-day.
Here's why that happens and what to change first.
By Juliette Stephens, Nathan Clare Advisory
Does this sound familiar?
- Your team checks things with you that they could decide themselves.
- Problems get passed to you instead of being resolved.
- You're still making decisions you thought someone else owned.
- You find yourself stepping in just to keep things moving.
When you started your business, being involved in everything made sense.
You knew the customers, set the standards and made the decisions.
But as the business grows, that way of working can become a limitation.
Why does work keep coming back to you?
Often, someone owns the task, but you still make the final decision.
When people aren't clear about what they can decide or where the limits are, checking with you feels like the safest option.
But that isn't always the whole story.
Sometimes the team doesn't have the information they need. Sometimes the way work is organised still requires your involvement.
And sometimes, without realising it, you're the one stepping back in.
You ask someone to take responsibility. But when they approach something differently, you correct it or make the final call.
Over time, people learn to come to you first.
Changing who does the work doesn't automatically change how the business works.
What should you change first?
Before introducing another solution, look at what's actually happening.
Think about the decisions, questions or problems that needed your attention this week.
Ask yourself:
- Why did this come to me?
- Did it genuinely need my involvement?
- What would need to change for someone else to deal with it?
Some situations need your judgement. Others may need clearer responsibilities, better information or a different response from you.
The important thing is to understand what's happening before deciding what to change.
You don't need to change everything at once. Start with one thing that's taking more of your time than it should.
Three decisions to make this week
I've created a free Three Decisions resource to help you identify where to focus and what you could change first.
No email required.
When you know something needs to change
You may already know you're too involved in the day-to-day, but you're not sure where to start.
That's what the Growth Bottleneck Intensive is designed to help you work through.
In a focused half-day session with up to six founders, you'll examine one important situation in your business, work out what needs to change and leave with a practical 30-day plan.