Why You’re Still the Bottleneck And How to Step Out of the Way

Decision speed, not last-minute heroics, is what actually gets your business moving.

(Picture this: You are at a crowded junction. Traffic is inching forward in every lane except one. That one clear, fast lane? That is what great decision-making creates.)

Most leaders slow teams down without realising

If your business feels stuck, it is probably not because people are not trying. Your team is working hard, calendars are packed with meetings, and updates are flowing, yet real progress still feels out of reach. This happens because leaders build routines that funnel every important decision through themselves. No one sets out to stall momentum, but that is often the result.

Every time someone escalates a question “just in case”, or another catch-up gets added to the diary, the work slows down. The business stays in place, not from a lack of effort, but from too many unnecessary checkpoints.

Spot the friction

Step back and look for the real signs things are not moving:

• Projects seem almost finished forever, caught up in endless rounds of feedback.
• Decisions are made, but then brought up again and re-examined.
• Your calendar is a list of status updates, rather than time spent making calls that actually push things forward.

These are not problems with talent or commitment. They are signals that your operating system needs an upgrade. Another signal: teams use phrases like “circling back”, “parking lot”, and “let us get more context” far more than “we decided”, “owner”, and “review date”. Listen for language. It tells you whether the system produces choices or updates.

Understand why it happens

When decisions all filter up to you, it usually comes down to a few design flaws:

• Unclear decision rights: when it is not obvious who gets to decide, people keep passing things up the ladder. Playing it safe is understandable.
• Status meetings posing as leadership: if your team spends most of its time reporting back rather than making real decisions together, you become a bottleneck by default.
• Invisible priorities: if your top outcomes are not visible somewhere simple, everyone keeps defending their own work and alignment disappears.
• Fear of the little mistakes: if your team is not sure which choices are safe to test and which need more scrutiny, everything starts to feel risky. Progress slows to a crawl.

Two more contributors I see often: incentives that reward activity rather than outcomes, and capacity spread too thin across “nice to have” initiatives. Both are solved by visible priorities and decision rights.

The real fix: change the system, not the person

Leaders do not need to be superhuman or available around the clock. What works best is building habits and structures that let important decisions move without always needing you.

Try using “reversible or irreversible”

When a decision is on the table, ask: “Can we undo this if we get it wrong?” If yes, agree the smallest safe step and set a review date. If no, slow down enough to do a proper sense check and make sure someone owns the outcome.

Bring it into the room by asking: “Is this a reversible move? If so, what is one thing we could do by Friday to learn more?” Follow it with: “What evidence would change our mind?” and “What will we stop doing if we choose this?” These two keep the test honest and protect capacity.

Create a one-page Clarity Map

Do not let clarity stay locked in your head. Make it visible:

• A single sentence for direction.
• Three to five must-have outcomes for the next 90 days.
• The main limits, like budgets, deadlines or compliance.
• Clear decision rights and the five things that matter most now, with names beside them.

If it does not fit on a page, it is too complicated. If it is not on the page, it is probably not a real priority. Review this page monthly. When it changes, tell people the change and why. Clarity earns trust because people can see the trade-offs you are making.

Swap status meetings for decision forums

Stop letting meetings become a stage for reporting back. Try this once a week instead:

• Everyone sends written updates the day before, so you do not waste time going round the houses.
• Run a sharp agenda: quick pulse on where you really are, a brief strategy check on assumptions, then make, delegate or date the outstanding decisions.
• Rank the priorities together, out loud, and confirm owners and dates.

Keep a simple Decision Log of what was agreed, publish a short CEO Brief within 24 hours, and make the path forward visible for all. If a decision is reopened, point to the trigger to revisit. If the trigger has not fired, move on.

Start using a simple Decision Log

Track the date, issue, whether it is reversible, what was decided, who owns it, and when to revisit. Include triggers for review, such as “if churn goes over three per cent for two weeks” or “if customer satisfaction drops below 40”. This helps you spot issues before they become real problems. Good triggers are observable, bounded by time, and do not require a long debate to interpret.

Add two small upgrades that make a big difference

• Capacity check: if you add a new top priority, name what you will pause. Five cross-functional priorities at a time is a healthy upper limit.
• Escalation path: define how issues move to the right level and the response time at each level. Clarity removes politics.

Two optional upgrades that compound the benefits: publish a weekly three-line brief to the whole leadership group, and use a short pre-read template for decisions that require alignment. Both reduce meeting time and increase follow-through.

What you gain

When you let go in the right way, good things start to happen:

• Teams solve problems together instead of always looking upward.
• Discussions shift from endless debate to real action or clear escalation.
• Priorities stay realistic and match the capacity you actually have.
• Your calendar opens up for strategic work instead of just managing information.

You also get a calmer culture. People know what matters, who decides, and how to raise issues. That lowers anxiety and increases ownership.

How it works in practice

A software company with just over a thousand people made two changes: it replaced one regular meeting with a Decision Forum and shared a three-line CEO Brief after each session. Within three months, the average time to make decisions fell by almost half. Project deadlines held steady and customer satisfaction rose. They did not hire more people or work longer hours. They changed the rhythm.

Two useful questions for your next meeting

“What would convince us to change our mind today?” “If this decision is not final, what is one safe thing we could test by Friday?”

Here is something ready to use straight away. Copy into your notes:

CEO Brief template (publish within 24 hours) What changed since last week: Decisions made (owners): Top risks and what is coming up:

Try this today. It will take 15 minutes:

1. Mark next week’s agenda items R (reversible) or IR (irreversible).
2. Draft your first Clarity Map. It can be rough. Get the essentials down.
3. Ask your team to bring options in writing. When you are together, focus on choosing a path forward, not circling back.

How to measure if it is working

1. Decision cycle time: count days from issue raised to decision recorded. Aim for a steady drop.
2. Re-litigation rate: how many decisions are reopened each month. This should fall sharply.
3. Priority churn: how often the top five change within a fortnight. A little churn is normal; a lot means noise.
4. Brief cadence: did the three-line brief go out within 24 hours, yes or no.
5. Owner clarity: does each top priority have a named owner and a review date.

Common traps to avoid

• Turning the brief into a newsletter. Keep it to three lines.
• Allowing more than five top priorities. Focus is a choice.
• Recording decisions after the meeting. Do it live so owners are clear.
• Letting slide decks back into the room. Use written pre-reads instead.

If you try any of these, reply or send a direct message and tell me what helped most. Was it the reversible or irreversible language, running a Decision Forum, or the three-line CEO Brief?

If you are ready for more clarity, more confidence and real momentum, that is exactly what I help CEOs and leaders create. Let us help you step out of the bottleneck and get things moving.

Feel free to get in touch with me via my LinkedIn messages or email me on stuart@stellarcoach.co.uk

— Stuart Turner, Stellar Coach