Handing over a decision, then taking it back
A manager tells a team lead: “This one’s yours. Choose the supplier.” The team lead does the work, talks to three firms, picks one and tells them.
Two days later, the manager says, “Actually, let’s go with the other one,” and that’s that.
Nothing dramatic happens. No one raises a grievance. But something has changed, and it will show up for months.
Why does a reversal land so hard?
Because it answers a question the team lead was quietly asking all along: when you said it was mine, did you mean it?
Trust is someone’s confidence in you with something they care about. Here, the thing they care about is being allowed to decide, and being seen as someone who can. Handing over the decision said yes. Taking it back says no, and says it more loudly, because actions outweigh words.
Tony Simons called the gap between what a manager says and what they do a question of behavioural integrity. People track it closely, and they weigh promises kept and broken more than intentions. “It’s your call” is a promise. Reversing it is the promise breaking.
What do people do afterwards?
They adapt, and usually in ways the manager never sees.
- They stop deciding. Why invest the effort if the decision can be undone?
- They start checking. Every choice comes back upwards “just to confirm”, which slows everything down.
- They wait to be told. The manager then wonders why nobody takes ownership.
The irony is that the manager who reverses decisions often ends up complaining that the team won’t step up. The team is behaving exactly as it has been taught.
There’s good evidence that the opposite works. Lee, Willis and Tian’s review of 105 samples found that leaders who genuinely share authority are linked to better performance, more discretionary effort and more creativity, and that trust in the leader is part of the link. Handing over a decision, and leaving it there, is one of the clearest ways to show that trust.
What if you really do need to step back in?
Sometimes you will. New information arrives, the risk turns out larger than anyone knew, or someone above you overrules it. Pretending otherwise won’t help.
What matters is how you do it.
- Say it plainly, and early. “I need to step back into the supplier decision.” Not a quiet override they discover later.
- Explain the reasoning. What changed, and why it couldn’t stay with them. People can accept a reversal they understand far more easily than one that looks like a whim.
- Separate the decision from the person. Be clear whether this is about new information or about their judgement. If it isn’t about their judgement, say so.
- Hand back what you can. If the choice of supplier has to change, can they still lead the negotiation, the contract or the rollout?
- Don’t make it a habit. Once is a reversal. Twice is a pattern, and patterns are what people remember.
How do you avoid it in the first place?
Most reversals come from handovers that were vaguer than they sounded. “It’s yours” meant one thing to the manager and another to the person receiving it.
Before you hand over a decision, be clear about:
- What exactly they are deciding, and what they’re not.
- The limits. Budget, timing, anything that’s fixed.
- When, if ever, you’ll want a say. “Show me your shortlist before you sign” is fine, if you say it at the start.
That is setting and confirming clear expectations before work begins, and it prevents most of the problem.
A question to ask yourself
When did you last hand over a decision, and did you leave it there?
If the honest answer is “not entirely”, that’s useful. It tells you which behaviour to practise.
Where this fits
Trust Leader helps leaders practise the specific behaviours that strengthen trust in real working relationships, like setting clear expectations and explaining the reasoning behind decisions that affect others. See how a leader chooses one behaviour and practises it.