Delegation

If you touch a hot pan with your finger, you will reflexively pull your hand away before the pain signal has time to reach your brain.

How does this happen? Your spinal cord makes the decision. This is because the brain — the most sophisticated source of intelligence we’re aware of — is too slow.

So, it’s delegated that responsibility to the spine. The brain may be the central decision maker in your body, but some responses require a faster reaction.

Leaders often feel compelled to make every decision themselves. Maybe some one-off situations have better outcomes that way.

But in the long run, you risk burning your organization’s hand if another part of the system can’t respond on its own.