DECISION & OWNERSHIP SPRINT
When too much depends on too few people.
Decisions keep coming back to the same people. Problems are escalated rather than resolved. Capable teams wait for answers, approvals or reassurance before moving forward.
The Decision & Ownership Sprint is a focused, 4–6 week engagement that helps your organisation understand where decision-making and ownership are getting stuck, and develop practical ways to move them closer to the people who need to exercise them.
The problem isn't always a lack of capability.
Your people may have the knowledge and experience to make decisions, yet still find themselves waiting for direction or passing responsibility upwards.
Sometimes the issue is unclear authority. Sometimes it's a lack of confidence, conflicting expectations or established ways of working that make it easier to escalate than to decide.
The result? Leaders become bottlenecks, teams become dependent on a small number of people, and decisions take longer than they need to.
The Decision & Ownership Sprint helps you look beyond the symptoms, understand what's happening in practice and identify where change is needed.
From understanding the problem to changing how decisions are made.
Over 4–6 weeks, we work with you to identify where decisions and ownership are getting stuck, understand why, and develop a practical way forward for one agreed area of your organisation.
01 Agree the focus
We start with a conversation with your sponsor to identify the specific challenge, agree the boundaries of the Sprint and establish what needs to change.
02 Understand what's happening
We explore a small number of real decisions, speak with the people involved and identify where authority, clarity, confidence or established ways of working may be creating dependency.
03 Design a practical way forward
Together, we clarify decision-making responsibilities, agree appropriate boundaries and identify changes that will help people exercise greater judgement and ownership.
04 Put the changes into practice
We agree the next steps, hand over a practical plan and arrange a follow-up check to review what's changed and what may need further attention.
Clearer decisions. Greater ownership. A practical way forward.
By the end of the Sprint, you'll have a clearer understanding of what's creating dependency in the agreed area of your organisation, alongside practical changes you can take forward.
A clear picture of the bottlenecks — where decisions are getting stuck, repeatedly escalated or concentrated in too few people.
An understanding of what's driving them — including the roles, expectations and working practices that may be creating dependency.
Agreed decision-making boundaries — greater clarity about who can decide what, when to involve others and when escalation is necessary.
A practical action plan — agreed next steps, responsibilities and a follow-up check to review progress.
Ready to move decisions and ownership forward?
If too many decisions depend on too few people in your organisation, let's explore what might be getting in the way.
The Decision & Ownership Sprint offers a focused starting point for understanding the challenge and developing a practical way forward.