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The Dirty Dozen · Pattern 12

Approval Pileup

Ordinary work waits for a leader because the boundaries of delegated authority are unclear. The same kinds of decisions return to the same inbox.

Take the self-assessmentBook a time
Recognize the pattern

What it looks like.

An employee sends a familiar customer request to the owner for approval. The owner asks for background that was missing from the message, while the employee waits instead of taking the next step.

What it costs the team.

Leaders repeatedly assemble context for predictable decisions, and staff learn to escalate rather than exercise judgment. Work moves at the pace of whoever holds the approval queue.

Business owner searching for missing context while routine requests pile into an approval inbox
Illustration: routine decisions queue at leadership when authority and context are unclear.
Illustrative workflow

A routine request joins the owner’s queue

Here is one way the work could move, with a person handling the decisions that need judgment.

Coordinator preparing context and separating a routine request from an exception under explicit authority rules
Illustration: check the facts against agreed limits and route the true exception with its context.

  1. Assemble the request, relevant facts, and the decision being asked for.

  2. Check the case against explicit authority rules and defined limits.

  3. Route true exceptions to the authorized decision-maker with the necessary context.

  4. Record the decision and reasoning for review before changing any authority rule.

Keep the judgment

What a person still owns.

Authorized owner deciding an exception while the original delegated-authority rules remain unchanged
Illustration: an authorized person decides the exception and records the reasoning before any rule changes.
  • Set delegated authority boundaries and approve policy changes.
  • Decide material exceptions, people matters, and risk acceptance.
  • Approve commitments that exceed the delegated limit.
Start with the work

A useful first step.

Review a small set of recurring approvals. Write down the evidence needed and the boundary that separates a routine case from an exception.

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A conversation, first

Talk to a nerd.

Bring one recurring task, request, or handoff. We’ll look at where it gets stuck and whether there’s a useful next step.

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