Why Your Team Waits on You for Everything (And How to Fix It)

You hired someone to lighten your load. Maybe it’s a project manager, an assistant, or a junior team member.

But here’s what actually happened: your Slack is busier than ever. Your calendar is full of “quick questions.” You’re approving decisions you thought they’d handle. You’re clarifying instructions you thought were clear.

You brought them on to free yourself up, but somehow you’re more involved than before. And now you’re wondering if it’s just easier to do everything yourself.

The Problem Isn’t Your Team

Most founders I work with think the issue is capability.

“They’re not proactive enough.” “They don’t think like an owner.” “I need someone more senior.”

So they hire someone with more experience. They write better job descriptions. They create more detailed onboarding docs.

And nothing changes.

Here’s why: your team isn’t the problem. The system is.

You delegated the task, but you didn’t transfer decision authority. So your team is stuck waiting on you, not because they can’t do the work, but because they don’t know what they’re allowed to decide without you.

They’re operating inside a fog. Every fork in the road sends them back to you because the boundaries aren’t clear.

The Decision Authority Gap

Inside the Operations Reset Framework, this is what we call the Decision Authority Gap.

It happens in the Assign phase, when founders hand off tasks but not ownership.

Here’s what that looks like in real life:

Your team asks: “Should I send this email to the client?” What they’re really asking: “Am I allowed to decide this, or do you need to approve it first?”

Your team asks: “Do we have budget for this tool?” What they’re really asking: “What’s my spending threshold before I need permission?”

Your team asks: “Can I move this deadline?” What they’re really asking: “What authority do I have over timelines?”

Every question they ask you is a decision you didn’t clarify upfront.

And every time you answer, you reinforce the pattern: Wait for the founder.

The fix isn’t hiring better people. It’s defining what decisions they own.

The Authority Ladder

The Authority Ladder is a simple framework I use with clients to map decision ownership.

It has five levels:

Level 1: You decide, they execute You make the call. They follow instructions. Example: “Use this exact email template for client onboarding.”

Level 2: They recommend, you decide They do the research and present options. You choose. Example: “Here are three project management tools. Which one should we use?”

Level 3: They decide, then inform you They make the call and let you know what they chose. Example: “I moved the client call to Thursday. Here’s why.”

Level 4: They decide, you’re available if needed They own it. They only pull you in if they hit a roadblock. Example: “I’m managing the Q1 campaign. I’ll update you at our weekly check-in.”

Level 5: They decide, you trust the outcome Full ownership. You’re not involved unless they choose to loop you in. Example: “I’m running hiring for this role. I’ll bring you final candidates.”

Most founders think their team operates at Level 3 or 4.

But when I map their actual decision flow, they’re stuck at Level 2.

The team recommends. The founder decides. Repeat forever.

And that’s why you’re bottlenecked.

How to Close the Gap

Here’s how to move decisions up the ladder without losing control.

Step 1: List the recurring decisions your team asks you about

Spend 10 minutes this week writing down every repeated question you get.

Examples:

• “Should I send this invoice?”
• “Can I offer a discount?”
• “Do we need a contract for this?”
• “Should I schedule a follow-up?”

Step 2: Assign each decision a level on the Authority Ladder

For each question, ask yourself:

• What’s the worst-case scenario if they get it wrong?
• Is the decision reversible?
• What’s the actual cost of a mistake?

If the decision is reversible and the worst case is survivable, it belongs at Level 3 or higher.

Step 3: Communicate the new authority level clearly

Don’t just tell them what to do. Tell them what they’re allowed to decide.

Instead of: “Send the client this update.” Say: “You own client communication for this project. You decide what updates to send and when. Just keep me in the loop in our Friday check-in.”

Instead of: “Let me approve that invoice first.” Say: “You can approve any invoice under $500 without asking me. For anything over that, flag it and I’ll review within 24 hours.”

Step 4: Let them make the decision (even if you’d do it differently)

This is the hard part.

They’re going to make choices you wouldn’t make. They’re going to do things 70% as well as you would.

And that’s fine.

Because every decision they make without you is one less bottleneck in your business.

What This Looks Like in Practice

I worked with a client who was drowning in approval requests.

Her team asked permission for everything: sending emails, scheduling calls, adjusting project timelines, ordering supplies.

We mapped her recurring decisions and moved 80% of them to Level 3 or higher.

Within two weeks, her Slack messages dropped by half. Her calendar had space again. Her team started solving problems instead of surfacing them.

And here’s what surprised her most: the quality of work didn’t drop. In some cases, it got better, because her team finally had room to think instead of waiting.

This Is the Assign Phase

The Authority Ladder is one tool inside the Assign phase of the Operations Reset Framework.

Extract gets the system out of your head. Assign transfers ownership to your team. Scale builds the rhythm and accountability to keep it running.

When all three phases work together, you get The Reset: a business that runs without you being the single point of failure.

But it starts here. With clarity on what your team is allowed to decide.

Because the fastest way to free yourself up isn’t doing less work. It’s giving away more decisions.

Ready to Stop Being the Bottleneck?

If your team is still waiting on you for everything, the problem isn’t them. It’s the system.

The Authority Ladder is one tool inside the Assign phase of the Operations Reset Framework. When you Extract the system from your head, Assign ownership to your team, and Scale the rhythm, you get The Reset: a business that runs without you being the single point of failure.