A Simple Model so You Don't Have to Make Every Decision
As a business owner, you reach a point where you can no longer do all the work yourself, so you delegate.
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Yet for some reason everything still seems to land on your desk.
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When that happens, it means you have a decision ownership problem.
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One of the simplest ways Iβve found to reduce this kind of friction came from a model I learned years ago.
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Itβs called The Tree Model for delegation.
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Letβs think of it as a decision ownership system. A way to make it explicit where leadership attention belongs, and where it doesnβt.
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The idea is simple: not all decisions carry the same weight, and treating them as if they do is what turns you into bottlenecks.
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Think of decisions like parts of a tree.
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Leaf Decisions
These are safe, low-risk. Day-to-day stuff.
Your team member can decide, act, and never mention it again.
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Branch Decisions
Still safe, but we want visibility.
They decide, act, and report back afterward.
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Trunk Decisions
Higher stakes.
These could do some damage to the business if they go sideways.
Team member decides, but doesnβt act until theyβve run it by you..
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βRoot Decisions
Mission critical. If you get this wrong, it cripples the tree (or worse).
These are yours. No delegating.
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When the decision ownership isnβt defined, two things happen:
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- Your team hesitates because authority is fuzzy.
- You become the bottleneck by default.
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Those things cause friction. And friction burns profit.
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Does this mean you have to let go of everything? Not really.
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It gives you a guide to be more intentional in keeping the right things, and setting expectations for the things you let go of.
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And that's how (finally) the business stops running through you.
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