Every founder eventually says some version of this sentence: “She brings me everything. Even the small stuff.”
It comes out half-frustrated, half-confused. The person was hired to own a function. A month later, every decision still lands back in the founder’s inbox. Sometimes twice.
The easy diagnosis is that the person “can’t delegate.” Or “isn’t strong enough yet.” Or “needs more time.” Sometimes that’s true. Usually it isn’t.
The pattern underneath
Most of the time, the person escalating every decision isn’t doing it because they don’t know what to do. They’re doing it because last time they made the call independently, something went wrong — a reaction, a disagreement, a correction after the fact.
So the next time, they loop you in. To be safe. To avoid being wrong alone.
Delegation doesn’t break because people won’t decide. It breaks because deciding feels unsafe.
The decision flow looks clogged. What’s actually clogged is the trust loop that decides whether the person can act without checking in.
What actually changes things
The fix isn’t “tell them to stop bringing you decisions.” That just moves the problem underground — the decisions still happen, but now without you, and without clarity about which ones you wanted to see.
The fix is explicit scope — named, written down, specific.
- What can this person decide on their own? List the categories.
- What must they bring to you? Name the triggers.
- When they decide alone and it goes sideways — what’s your response? If the answer is “depends on my mood,” the loop never heals.
Without that, escalation isn’t a people problem. It’s a structural one. And it gets worse, not better, as the company grows.
The org chart shows boxes. The trust loop decides who actually operates inside them.