List recurring decisions
Start with decisions that happen weekly or monthly and currently create delay, rework or founder escalation.
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Clarity and accountability
Decision Rights Map
Clarify who recommends, decides, contributes and must be informed for recurring business decisions.
Use this when
Start with a live team problem.
- Meetings revisit decisions that should already be owned.
- People wait for approval because authority is unclear.
- Consultation has become consensus by default.
How to use it
Move from context to one usable agreement.
Assign one decider
Every decision needs one accountable decider. Other people may recommend, contribute or be informed.
Define guardrails
State the limits within which the decision can be made without further approval.
Worked example
Hiring a customer support specialist
Use the example to understand the level of specificity. Replace the content with evidence from your own team.
DECISION Hire a customer support specialist within the approved headcount plan. DECIDER Head of Customer Success RECOMMENDS Customer Support Lead CONTRIBUTES Finance confirms salary range People Operations confirms process and compliance INFORMED Founder and leadership team GUARDRAILS - Role is in the approved quarterly plan - Salary is within the agreed band - Final candidate completes the standard reference process ESCALATE WHEN The role, salary or start date falls outside the approved plan.
Blank template
Decision Rights Map
Copy this into Docs, Notion or your existing workspace, or print it for a team conversation.
DECISION RIGHTS MAP Decision: Frequency: DECIDER One person who makes the final call: RECOMMENDS Who develops the recommendation: CONTRIBUTES Who provides evidence or specialist input: INFORMED Who needs the result and context: GUARDRAILS - Budget limit: - Quality or risk standard: - Timeframe: ESCALATE WHEN -
The System Folks · Free founder resource · thesystemfolks.com/resources/decision-rights-map
Common mistakes
Keep the tool connected to real work.
- 01
Assigning a committee as the final decider.
- 02
Using the map for every small operational choice.
- 03
Leaving budget, risk or quality boundaries implicit.
Why this works
Evidence behind the resource
A process approach connects leadership, evidence-based decisions and the management of interdependent work.
Read ISO process approachNeed help implementing it?
A template can reveal a bigger operating problem.
If decision rights overlap across roles or business functions, we can help design the wider operating model rather than fixing one decision at a time.
Contact us when one costly workflow or team bottleneck needs diagnosis, build support and adoption.
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