Look at the evidence
Define the duration and protected commitments.
Agree which decisions the team can make and which remain reserved.
Review what waited, what moved and why after the period.
A case to think through
A team handles routine customer work but pauses a new initiative until the founder returns. That may be appropriate if the investment was explicitly reserved.
This is a hypothetical operating example, not a client result.Avoid a misleading conclusion
A quiet absence is weak evidence if demand was unusually low or colleagues quietly postponed difficult decisions.
Direction concerns shared priorities and the ability to make trade-offs. Compare what people say with where time and resources actually go. A clear document is helpful, but the stronger evidence is a real choice made coherently when competing demands arrive without the founder supplying the answer.
Your evidence check
Bring supporting and contrary examples. A self-reported answer is a starting point; these notes do not calculate or validate a score.
| Prompt | Notes from your case |
|---|---|
| Absence window | |
| expected decisions | |
| decisions delayed | |
| impact | |
| reason |
Should I disappear without warning to test the team?
No. Use a proportionate planned exercise with clear authority, safety and escalation arrangements.
See the wider pattern.
20 questions. An indicative, self-reported result with a five-dimension profile and an optional conversation.
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