People · Organising to Growing
Who decides what
For each decision, you agree who makes it: the person themselves, after checking with someone, or someone else. And everyone can look it up.
Worth reading first: Who's got the monkey?
Does this sound familiar?
- An account manager gives a customer 15% off. You only find out when you see the invoice.
- A team member rings you on holiday to ask whether they can order a replacement laptop.
- Two people both change the price list, because they both thought it was their job.
- Something gets left because nobody knows whether it's theirs. 'I thought you were doing that.'
Who it's for, and when
For founders and managers whose team still asks too often whether something's allowed, or decides something you thought was yours. It comes up as soon as you're no longer at the table for every decision, and it comes back when a layer of managers appears between you and the work.
The model
“Type 2 decisions can and should be made quickly by high judgment individuals or small groups.”
Delegation has more settings than on and off. Jurgen Appelo describes seven levels, from 'I decide and tell you' to 'you decide, and I don't need to know'. In between are explaining, consulting, deciding together, advising and checking in afterwards. This lesson is about the standing decisions of a role, agreed in advance and laid out side by side for the whole team. The lesson Who's got the monkey? is about one piece of work that lands back on your desk, and the lesson Situational leadership is about how much direction someone needs for a task.
The level belongs to a decision. The same salesperson books a meeting with a customer on their own, checks first before giving more than 10% off, and has no say over the price list. That's why Appelo sets out, for each decision area, who sits at which level in one table: the delegation board.
Boldcaster uses three levels. Decides alone: just do it, no questions afterwards. Checks first: you're allowed, but not on your own. Sits with: not yours, and it says who to go to. That's coarser than seven, but enough to know what to do in the moment.
Which level fits depends mostly on what goes wrong if the decision turns out badly. Bezos calls most decisions doors you can walk back through. Those you let people make quickly, as close to the work as possible. Only what you can't undo stays higher up.
Jurgen Appelo: the seven levels of delegation in Management 3.0 (2011), with the delegation board worked out in Managing for Happiness (2016). The difference between reversible and irreversible decisions comes from Jeff Bezos, in his 2015 letter to Amazon shareholders.
Decides alone
Appelo's levels 6 and 7, inquire and delegate: the other person decides, and at most you ask afterwards how it went. For anything that happens often, costs little and can be undone. Goodwill up to €100, moving a job within the week.
Checks first
Levels 4 and 5, agree and advise: the other person decides, with your agreement or advice. They're allowed to, but not on their own. Write down who they check with. A discount above 10%, a new supplier.
Sits with
Levels 1 to 3, tell, sell and consult: the other person can have their say, but someone else decides. For anything expensive, with long-lasting effects, or impossible to undo. Add the name, so nobody has to guess who to go to.
The board
All the team's lines side by side. One person's card tells you whether their lines are right. Only on the board do you see two people with the same line under Decides alone. And, if you read it carefully, which decisions sit with nobody.
Pitfalls
It's only in your head
You know exactly what someone's allowed to do. They don't, so they ask or they guess. A line only counts once the other person can look it up in the moment without calling anyone.
A rulebook
Nobody reads thirty lines per person at the moment it matters. Keep it to a handful per role, and only write down what someone hesitated over or had to ask about in the past six months.
Watch and read
Appelo's own Management 3.0 channel takes you through the seven levels in four minutes, from 'I decide' to 'you decide', with the delegation board alongside.
Watch on YouTubeBezos on decisions you can reverse and decisions you can't, and why you let people make the first kind quickly and low down in the organisation.
Watch on YouTubeRead
Management 3.0: Leading Agile Developers, Developing Agile Leaders
Jurgen Appelo · 2011 · ISBN 9780321712479
The source of the seven levels. The chapter on empowerment is the part for this lesson; the rest of the book (413 pages) is broader and written for software teams.
View the bookManaging for Happiness
Jurgen Appelo · 2016 · ISBN 9781119268680
Shorter and more practical, with its own chapter on the delegation board and how to fill it in with your team. A workbook to go with the first one.
View the bookApply it
- 1
Start with the starter list
Below, for each area of the role scorecard, are the decisions that come up in almost every company, with the level that often fits. Cross out what doesn't apply to you and adjust the limits.
- 2
Add what people hesitated over in the past six months
Ask each person: where weren't you sure you were allowed, and what did you have to check? Anything that comes out of that and isn't on the starter list gets added.
- 3
Choose a level for each decision
Decides alone, Checks first or Sits with. Ask yourself: what does it cost if it goes wrong, and can you undo it? The cheaper and more reversible it is, the lower the decision can sit.
- 4
Write it so it can be looked up in the moment
With a limit and a name: 'Goodwill up to €100', 'Discount above 10%: check with Mark first', 'Changing the price list sits with Mark'. Eight lines per person at most.
- 5
Put the team side by side
Look for two people deciding the same thing alone, and for decisions that sit with nobody. Sort those out before it goes wrong in practice.
- 6
Look at it every six months
When a new kind of decision comes up, or someone leaves, update the cards. A name under Sits with for someone who no longer works there sends people to nobody.
Examples
Starter list: Spending or giving away money
An order within your team's budget up to €1,000: decides alone. Goodwill for a customer up to €100: decides alone. Spending outside the budget or above €5,000: sits with the managing director.
Starter list: Promising something to a customer
A delivery date within the normal schedule: decides alone. A discount above 10% or different payment terms: checks first with the sales manager. A contract longer than a year: sits with the managing director.
Starter list: Deviating from the standard
Scheduling a job differently within the week: decides alone. Deviating from the standard way of working for one customer: checks first with the process owner. Changing the price list: sits with one named person, for example the sales manager.
Starter list: People
Approving holiday within staffing levels: the team leader decides alone. A temp for a week: checks first with the planner. Hiring someone or not renewing a contract: checks first, and the managing director is involved and can veto it.
Starter list: Speaking for the company externally
A LinkedIn post about your own work: decides alone. A customer case study or a quote with a customer's logo on it: checks first with the account manager. Talking to the press: sits with the managing director.
Starter list: Changing how we work
Your own template or checklist: decides alone. A way of working that affects another team: checks first with that team. New software for the whole company: sits with the managing director, or whoever looks after the systems.
Goodwill at customer service
An installation company. The service staff rang the managing director about every complaint. Now the card says: goodwill up to €100, decides alone; up to €500, checks first with the team leader; anything above sits with the managing director. The phone now rings only a few times a month.
Two people and one price list
On the board of a wholesaler, 'changing prices' sits under Decides alone for both the buyer and the sales manager. That explains the two price lists. The fix: the buyer decides, and the sales manager checks with him first.
Do this in your own business
Everything up to here is free. What you fill in for your own business, you keep in Boldcaster.
- Go to Decision authority. This shows the whole team's decision rights side by side, by level or by person. You can see who has nothing filled in yet and which line appears for more than one person. You fill it in on a team member's role scorecard.
- You look back on a situation from your own work. Only you can read what you write.
- You set a date with yourself, and on that day the app asks how it went.
- You assign the lesson to your team and see who has done it.
- The quiz counts towards your progress, and you see which lesson comes next.
Four weeks free. You'll land straight in this lesson.
Quiz
6 situations. You need 5 of 6 right. You can try again at any time.
1.Your new salesperson asks permission for every customer meeting, but gives 20% off without checking. What do you agree?
2.A planner wants to reorder the week's jobs himself. It's cheap and can be put back tomorrow. Where does this decision sit?
3.In a meeting you said the service staff could decide on goodwill themselves. They still ring you. What helps most?
4.The planner's card says 'Scheduling an urgent job: sits with'. With every urgent job he rings three people. What's missing?
5.On the board, 'Approving holiday' sits under Decides alone for both the team leader and the planner. What do you do?
6.Every month your project lead asks whether he can bring in a freelancer for a busy spell. You say yes every time. What do you do?
Nothing is saved here. In the app, the quiz counts towards your progress.
Read next
- The A-player matrix · You know who carries your team, and what you'll do with each of them.
- A role with a purpose · Everyone in your team knows why their role exists, and how you'll both be able to tell they're doing it well.
- Owning your work · You bring a problem with a recommendation, make the decisions that are yours to make, and finish what you pick up.
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