Design the approval around the risk

Career · Little Light original

A small decision waits three days for approval because the process treats every choice as though it could endanger the company. People learn to copy more names, write longer justifications, and stop using judgment where judgment would have been enough. The system feels controlled, but the work becomes slower without necessarily becoming safer. Match the approval to the risk. Decide which choices are reversible, which have clear limits, and which genuinely require senior attention. Give people authority inside those boundaries and make escalation simple when the facts move beyond them. A good control should help someone recognise a consequential decision, not make every ordinary decision feel consequential. Trust does not mean removing accountability. It means placing accountability where it can improve the outcome. When capable people know what they may decide, they move with more care and less hesitation. Save the heaviest scrutiny for the choices that are truly hard to undo, and let the rest of the organisation breathe.

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