How to Spot Decision Leakage in Your Business

Decision leakage occurs when authority for a consequential decision sits with the wrong person, or with no one clearly. It is the pricing approval a manager gave because the founder was unavailable. It is the supplier contract signed without clear authority.

Three Patterns of Leakage

**Pattern 1: Undefined decision rights.** No one has explicitly mapped which decisions sit where. **Pattern 2: Unavailability drift.** The founder is the right authority but is consistently unavailable. **Pattern 3: Conflict avoidance.** A decision is deferred because it involves disagreement.

The System That Stops Leakage

A decision registry is the foundational tool. It is a structured record of which decisions belong where, under what conditions, and what the escalation path is. The second element is a decision rhythm — a structured cadence of review. The third is a clear audit trail.

Decision governance is the practice of ensuring that authority sits where it should, so the business can operate without the founder being the only thing holding it together.