Stop being the answer desk: the decisions your leads make without you
The forming foreman asks the superintendent which approved work area to tackle next. A lead hand then asks where the current delivery information lives. Other questions concern a proposed material change and a missing design answer. The superintendent answers them all personally, although they require different roles and information.
Examine the repeat questions before trying to remove them from your day. Some need a known reference, some belong to an already authorized lead, and others genuinely need your contribution or another responsible decision. A useful decision list makes those differences visible. It should not discourage necessary questions or turn a frequently asked technical issue into permission to decide it locally.
Give recurring questions a usable first route
- Keep a short sample of the questions. Record what was actually being asked, which information was missing and why it reached you. Separate repeated reference requests from decisions, exceptions and coordination conflicts. Include questions that arrived too late. Counting interruptions alone cannot show whether a person lacks access, a clear role or the authority needed to answer.
- Agree each lead's real decision list. Identify the routine decisions that fall within that person's competence, capacity and actual authority. Connect them to current information and conditions. Obtain any required agreement before changing responsibility. State which changes need another role's review. A proposed material substitution does not become routine merely because it resembles something used successfully elsewhere.
- Make the answer sources and exceptions accessible. Link the current information, actual receiver and required record for each recurring question. Test what happens when a reference is missing, conditions differ or two work areas conflict. Invite the lead's proposed answer where appropriate, but give necessary support. Asking what would you do cannot replace the information or authority they do not possess.
- Review the pattern rather than a question quota. Check whether answers reached the right people and exceptions remained visible. Correct missing references or unclear boundaries. Consider any further delegation through proper review, not an automatic monthly expansion. Retain a workable route to you when your decision is actually needed; a quieter desk is not evidence that all outstanding questions were resolved.
Common mistakes
- Treating every interruption as unnecessary.
- Writing a decision list without current answer sources.
- Using a question to conceal missing support or authority.
- Expanding permission automatically when the desk becomes quieter.
Checklist
A recurring-question route identifies
- The actual question and reason it reaches you.
- The lead's existing or properly agreed decision scope.
- Current references and the required record.
- Missing-information, conflict and exception routes.
- A review of received answers, not a question quota.
Check your understanding
A lead asks about a material substitution that is not on the agreed decision list. Should you tell them to work it out to reduce interruptions?
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