Set each role's level of ownership and train people up the dial

1. The five levels

Anyone who comes into a business, in this model, sits at one of five levels. Each has a name, a way of working and a line that sums it up.

Level	What they say to you	How the person works
1. Wait to be told	"What should I do next?"	Shows no initiative and carries out tasks, nothing more. The role is not supposed to show initiative, and it fits, especially, someone you are spoon-feeding
2. Ask what to do	"Should I do X or Y?"	Has some initiative but still has to be pointed. They have some idea of what to do, and want you to choose which way
3. Recommend, then act	"I recommend X. Do you agree?" (or: agree or disagree)	Arrives with solutions, not only problems. This is where you begin to feel some relief
4. Act, then inform	"I did X. Here's why."	Makes the decision and keeps you in the loop, telling you what they did and the reason
5. Act independently	"This is handled."	Owns it fully. You are told afterward, and only if it matters

2. Why every decision lands on you

Most founders, in this account, want people working at level five, take them on at level two, and never train them to rise. A lot of you do it, and so do a lot of others: take on someone wanted at five who is really at two. Or hire at two, mean to grow the person, and never show them how to get from two all the way to five.

That gap is what makes you the bottleneck. Your aim is people who decide on their own; the role you put them in is built around asking; and nobody teaches them to climb. Then you are frustrated that they keep bringing you decisions. Picture the founder buried in messages on the team chat, texts and calls at every hour, and then asking why that is.

3. Step one: set the level each role needs

Take a team you have and ask of each role what level it has to work at to function. The suggestion is to run it on your own business; a team that is tough to work with, if you have one, is a good place to try it.

The examples, with the two figures that appear for each:

Role	One reading	The other reading
Entry-level (one reading names a coordinator)	Level 2 to 3	Maybe level two or three
Head of a department	Level 4 to 5	Probably at least level four
An executive in the C-suite	Level 5 only	Level five for sure

4. Step two: train people up

Most people can rise one or two levels with training. There is no need to fire everyone; developing them is what you need, a point made with heavy emphasis. Consider the founder who concludes that someone just cannot make decisions and reaches for firing. Has that founder thought about maybe teaching the person how to decide? People are good at learning; that has not stopped being true.

5. Step three: keep each person at the level they were hired for

If someone hired at level four keeps working at level two, it is treated as a performance issue. The reason: you made them aware of the level and hired them into it.

6. What to say at each move up

There is a move for each step up from level two, with what to say at each.

From two to three: solutions, not problems. Teach the person to come with solutions rather than problems. What you tell them: before bringing you anything, write down three options and say which one you would recommend. One practice here goes with it: they bring you the question they have and the answer they would choose, and you give it a thumbs up or down. It really is that simple, in this view.

From three to four: small decisions, reported afterward. Give them authority to decide small things: this is theirs, they make the call, and they tell you what they did. One example: hand someone three things to own and ask to hear what they did afterward. Another: tell them you have noticed them coming to you with certain things again and again, and that you would rather they dealt with those themselves and told you how it went.

From four to five: the whole function. Widen their scope. They own the entire function, and you tell them you trust them. One way to put it: they no longer need to bring any of it to you; you will see how it goes in the profit and loss statement and in the reporting scorecards you get.

A worked case of level five. In one example, an owner offered a general manager a share of the profit in the business, and the trade was put plainly: the owner's phone does not ring. Test it with role play: ask what they would do about a leak in the ceiling. The right answer is anything except calling the owner. Say why, so they get it: if the phone stays quiet, they make more money; if it rings, the deal is broken, and you want the money back.

7. What the dial does for you

Train people this way and show your team the dial, and expectations become objective. It also lifts every decision off you (all the decisions you are making).

A team that takes up your time. The view here is that it is worth doing especially with a team that eats up a lot of your time. Go level by level and ask whether you have spelled out what each one needs, whether the people you hired are the right ones, and whether you have made things clear.

8. What this page does not decide for you

• How long a move takes. This page gives no figure for how long it takes to raise someone a level.
• How far one person can climb. Most people can rise one or two levels, and section 2 also describes founders who never train people to go from two to five. Whether one person can be trained up more than two levels: Not established on this page.
• Levels for other roles. The examples cover an entry-level role, a department head and an executive. Where any other role sits: Not established on this page.
• What counts as a small thing at the move from three to four. Not established on this page.
• What follows a performance issue. Not established on this page.
• How large a share of profit goes with level five in section 6's case. This page gives no figure for it.

9. The checklist

Step	What to do
1	Pick a team (in the view here, especially one that costs you a lot of time) and settle the level each role has to work at
2	For each level, ask whether you have made clear what it needs, and whether you hired the right people
3	Before you decide someone cannot make decisions, try teaching them how
4	From two to three: have them write down three options, with the one they would pick, before they come to you
5	From three to four: hand over small decisions, and ask to be told afterward what they did
6	From four to five: give them the whole function; its results then reach you through the profit and loss statement and the reporting you get; one way to pay for it is a share of profit, tested by role play
7	Hold people to the level they were hired at: if someone hired at level four keeps working at level two, treat it as a performance issue
8	Show the team the dial, so expectations become objective

10. Where this sits

• Setting the levels of ownership, and where each person should work, is on the build list in section 8 of SOP 265 — Find which corner of functions, people and operations breaks first. A new hire there is handed the playbook and their place on this scale (its section 6).
• Much the same idea for a service team, splitting a rep's decisions into those that need approval and those a rep may take alone, up to a limit, is SOP 161 — Give customer service reps an empowerment wheel.
• Who may spend how much without asking, written down as a procedure, is section 2 of SOP 167 — Delegate spending with approval limits, department budgets and cards.
• The questions to ask before putting time into one person's development are in section 9 of SOP 259 — Sort the team by values and performance, and act on each box.
• Checking back on what people committed to, one of the practices of management, is section 3 of SOP 271 — Score your management system and fix its weakest practices.
• Taking time away to see what breaks, a test of whether the business runs without you, is section 7 of SOP 272 — Score your leadership system and use rest to test it.

11. What this page does not cover

Pay plans, beyond the profit share in section 6's case, and employment law are not covered on this page. Letting someone go, once you have decided to, is SOP 153 — Fire without surprise and plan who covers the work.