I took over the approvals. The work started depending on me.

Taking over approvals can help today and create a dependency tomorrow.

Two heavy metal beam segments rest on graphite piers and one slender lime temporary support at their central joint. The structure illustrates stabilisation that still depends on a single support. Caption: The fix works. The dependency remains.

When I took over a design team, I started handling reviews and approvals with other teams myself. Fewer problems reached senior leadership, and designers had less coordination work to deal with.

That helped with the immediate problem. But it also meant more of the work depended on me being around to get it through.

I don't think taking that work on personally was a mistake. Sometimes you need to get involved and stabilise things. But fewer escalations don't tell me whether the team can now handle those situations without me.

The next step is to take a question that keeps coming back and make the decision clear: here's the rule, here's an example, here's who can decide, and here's when to bring it to me. Then see what happens with the next similar case. If it still stops at my door, we haven't removed the dependency yet.