Empower People
Decisions are best made where the knowledge is, and most programmes make them where the authority is. The distance between those two places is a large share of the elapsed time in any ERP delivery.
Why it matters
Escalation is not free. Every decision that travels up and back is days of latency, and the person who eventually decides usually knows less about the specifics than the person who raised it.
- Latency compounds: Ten decisions a week each waiting five days is a workstream operating at half speed.
- Quality falls with distance: Decisions made away from the detail get made on the summary.
- Ownership follows authority: People who did not decide do not own the outcome.
Putting it into practice
- 01
Map the decisions
What actually needs deciding, and how often.
- 02
Set thresholds
What can be settled in the workstream, and what genuinely must escalate.
- 03
Delegate explicitly
Written, so nobody has to guess whether they can.
- 04
Give the context
Delegation without the constraints produces decisions that have to be undone.
- 05
Support rather than review
Available to consult, not required to approve.
- 06
Hold the outcome
Accountability sits with the decision-maker, including when it goes wrong.
The test of delegation is what happens to a reasonable decision that turns out badly. If it is reversed and the authority quietly withdrawn, nobody will use the delegation again.
What you need in place
- A decision map with thresholds: Financial, scope and design, written down.
- Business representatives who hold delegation: One who must check is a message-carrier.
- Context and constraints shared: So delegated decisions stay inside the boundaries.
- A consult route, not an approval route: For the genuinely uncertain.
- Tolerance for reasonable failure: Or delegation is theoretical.
Questions to ask
01Thresholds
What can a workstream lead decide alone?
If undefined, everything escalates by default.
02Representation
Can our business representatives commit?
If not, we have consultation, not decision-making.
03Latency
How long does a typical design decision take?
Measure it; the number is usually a surprise.
04Reversal
How often are delegated decisions overturned?
Frequent reversal withdraws the delegation in practice.
05Context
Do decision-makers know the constraints?
Delegation without context produces expensive corrections.
Metrics and KPIs to track
Decision latency
By decision type and by level.
Escalation rate
Decisions escalated against those decided locally.
Reversal rate
Delegated decisions later overturned.
Decision backlog
Open decisions awaiting resolution, and their age.
Alongside this