Decentralize Decision-Making

Description

Teams doing the work is empowered and encouraged to make decisions as needed, and only escalate to leadership team if an impediment requires higher-level authorization.

Objective

Maximize completion of work by empowering the team members closest to the problem to make decisions without the need to engage higher levels of the organizational hierarchy.

Technique

Enabling team members who have the deepest understanding of the situational context to make decisions minimizes the unnecessary handoffs that typically result in delays. In order to apply this play, the management team must provide formal authority and autonomy to the teams.

• Define areas of accountability and authority for various team roles (i.e. contributor role, lead role).
• Encourage efficient decision-making with optimal communication paths for risk management.
• Clarify process for escalating high-impact decisions and issues