Leaders say they want teams to own decisions, then take them back when things get risky. This teaches people that ownership ends under pressure, creating dependence. Real leadership means keeping decisions with the team while guiding them through discomfort.
You can tell people who own the decisions at work all day long, but watch what happens when a decision gets uncomfortable. See, that's usually where you find your real system. We say we want a manager to own it, and we say we want people to make decisions. We say we don't want everything coming back to the executive leaders, but then something gets risky. A customer is upset, a deadline is tight, somebody made the wrong call. And almost without even realizing it, everybody starts looking at the same person. So that leader steps in, the decision moves back up, and the person who was supposed to own it is waiting again. And I understand why this happens. It feels faster, it feels safer, and sometimes it even feels like good leadership in the moment. But what did we just teach? We taught them that they own the decision until it gets hard. We taught them that the standard holds until holding it creates tension. We taught them that when pressure goes up, leadership will take it back. And that's what we've developed with GDD, because the real system is not what is written down. It's what people have learned will happen when things get uncomfortable. And keeping ownership where it belongs doesn't mean leaving someone alone with it. You still have to lead. You still have to ask the questions. You still have to make the standard clear and actually guide them through the uncertainty. But don't just take the decision back because carrying it yourself feels easier. Because every time you do that, you're not just solving that moment, you're teaching the team what will happen the next time pressure shows up.
