One of the hardest parts of leadership is not making decisions. It is defining which decisions you should not make yourself, and which decisions your team should not surprise you with.
The contradiction teams experience
A manager says, “Use your judgment; do not escalate everything.” The employee decides, and later hears, “Why didn’t you align with me first?” From the employee’s perspective, the messages conflict: ownership or approval?
The issue is often not confidence but missing decision boundaries. Delegation does not mean every technically authorized action should proceed without broader visibility, and alignment should not turn the manager into a bottleneck.
A practical test before deciding
Decide independently when the decision is reversible, limited in impact, within your scope, and unlikely to create a major financial, organizational, or political precedent.
Prior alignment matters when a decision is difficult to reverse, involves senior stakeholders, changes operating behavior, creates precedent, or could embarrass your manager or organization if it fails.
Authority is not the only factor
A decision may sit within your formal authority yet still require visibility rather than approval. You are not asking the manager to decide for you; you are allowing them to surface context you may not have.
How should leaders define boundaries?
- Define decisions the employee fully owns.
- Separate post-decision notification from pre-decision alignment.
- Use numeric thresholds where possible: value, duration, customer tier, or risk level.
- When you disagree with a reasonable decision, do not punish the employee merely for choosing differently from your preference.