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Operations Decision Empowerment

  • Writer: David Peček
    David Peček
  • Feb 21, 2020
  • 2 min read

Updated: Sep 13, 2020


Decisions need to be made every day in operations. Do you and the those who work for you feel empowered to make the right decisions, or do they feel the need to always go up the chain of command every time? What are the right decisions to be made on your own? Which need approval? You want streamlined operations, and part of that is employees not waiting for decisions to be made.

Define types decisions your employees are empowered to do themselves and which ones need approval to ensure quick decision making and efficient operations.

Team Decisions

Some of the best decisions are made as a team Here are some examples of this idea:


  • Solving customer facing issues. Teams and members should feel full authority to solve customer facing issues. With multiple sets of eyes on a problem you are likely to get the diagnosis and fix correct.

  • Automation. When inefficient processes creep up they should be dealt with so you no longer have to keep doing them. Automation proposals should be reviewed with the team to ensure that automation is the best path to solve the issue.

  • Workarounds. When are not available for problems, the team is best at crating a workaround to ensure you can still use the service and the best alternative action is chosen.

  • Incidents. When major problems arise, the team can agree on the impact and decide if it is a major incident or regular.


Manager Level Approvals

There are some caveats to when the decision should go to the next level for a decision.


  • Larger financial impact. When some fixes or solutions have a significant financial impact to be completed, these should be reviewed with management. Decide and document with your team on which expenses above a certain number need approval.

  • Major customer changes. If you have customers key to your success, you want to make sure any major decisions about how their service or product is handled is run by a manager.

  • New external processes. Changes made to how the team interacts with other teams should be agreed to by management.

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