How do I apply the idea that decision rights design?

The most direct way to practice is through a focused exercise: Audit the decision rights for your team or function. List the ten most common decisions your team makes. For each decision, identify: (1) Who currently makes this decision? (2) Who should make this decision? (the person closest to the relevant information and most affected by the outcome). (3) What approval is currently required? (4) What approval is actually necessary? (5) How long does the decision currently take from initiation to resolution? For each decision where the current decision-maker is not the optimal decision-maker, or where unnecessary approvals add delay, design a revised decision right that moves the decision closer to the information and reduces unnecessary approval layers. Implement one revision this week.

Common pitfall: Delegating decisions without delegating information and accountability. Pushing decisions down the organization without ensuring that the decision-makers have the information they need produces poor decisions — not because the people are less capable but because they lack the inputs that good decisions require. And delegating without accountability produces decisions that are made but not owned — no one feels responsible for the outcomes. Effective decision rights delegation is a package: the authority to decide, the information to decide well, and the accountability for the decision's consequences.

This practice connects to Phase 84 (Systemic Change) — building it as a repeatable habit compounds over time.