A fictional worked example · Five decisions
Your Decision
Handover Map.
See how ownership, boundaries and missing evidence turn a recurring question into a practical first handover.
Illustrative example, not a client result. Role names are proposed owners, subject to actual capability, information and agreed limits. Spending remains within the business's existing approval limits. This is not an instruction to change your current authority.
Start here
One decision to try first.
The delivery-date case is a possible first reversible handover in this fictional business, subject to checking commitments and capability. Agree the outcome, owner, permitted choices, limits, information, exceptions and review date. Record what happened and whether founder intervention was required. If no case occurs, record "not yet observed".
From submission to recommendation · fictional example
What the founder sends
“Our delivery manager asks me to approve moving a customer’s delivery date. They know the available slots, but we haven’t agreed which changes they can make without me.”
The judgement behind the first handover.
What I would check: the manager knows the slots, but permission to change the promise may still sit with the founder. Check which choices are allowed and whether the capacity information is current.
What would change my view: if permission and information are already clear, check the manager’s skills, conflicting commitments or whether reasonable choices have been reversed.
My suggested first step: agree which ordinary date changes the manager can make within existing customer promises and spending limits. Ask them to bring exceptions with options and a recommendation. Observe a suitable case together before widening the handover.
All five decisions · proposed boundaries
A customer asks for a price exception.
- Proposed owner
- sales manager, if capable and authorised.
- Decide and inform
- within the existing pricing and margin policy.
- Recommend for approval
- outside the policy, with customer context, margin impact, alternatives and recommendation.
- Escalate
- a material commitment or risk covered by the business's reserved-authority rules.
- Missing evidence
- pricing policy, margin information, manager capability.
- First handover
- agree the ordinary case and test one proposal inside existing limits.
Two teams disagree about today's priority.
- Proposed owner
- the manager responsible for the shared outcome.
- Decide and inform
- reprioritise within agreed objectives and resource authority.
- Recommend for approval
- changes that affect another owner's commitments or require resources outside authority.
- Escalate
- safety, employment or other genuinely reserved matters through the existing route.
- Missing evidence
- one accountable outcome owner and agreed priority rules.
- First handover
- name the outcome owner and agree a rule for ordinary conflicts.
A customer asks to move a delivery date.
- Proposed owner
- delivery manager, if commitments and capacity are visible.
- Decide and inform
- choose an available slot within existing customer commitments.
- Recommend for approval
- a change that breaches a commitment, displaces a promised delivery or requires extra spending outside authority.
- Escalate
- an urgent exception covered by agreed triggers.
- Missing evidence
- capacity, customer commitments and spending authority.
- First handover
- agree boundaries, then observe one ordinary change.
The cash forecast changes.
- Proposed owner
- finance lead for analysis and recommendation, not automatically for spending.
- Decide and inform
- update assumptions, explain the change and report it.
- Recommend for approval
- a proposed commercial action outside existing authority, with cash implications and options.
- Escalate
- an agreed cash-risk trigger; reserved finance decisions remain reserved.
- Missing evidence
- forecast reliability, current commitments and decision authority.
- First handover
- ask the owner to explain the change and recommend one action at the next review.
An account raises an ordinary service complaint.
- Proposed owner
- account manager within agreed service-recovery authority.
- Decide and inform
- resolve within existing promises and remedy limits.
- Recommend for approval
- a remedy outside those limits, with the relationship impact and alternatives.
- Escalate
- legal, safety or material relationship risks through existing authority.
- Missing evidence
- commitments, remedy policy and account-owner capability.
- First handover
- introduce the relationship owner and agree what a normal resolution looks like.
Make the next conversation useful
Bring a recommendation, then review the evidence.
Situation → evidence and uncertainty → options and trade-offs → recommendation → specific approval needed → owner, date and review.
Look at outcome, decisions made, exceptions, risks and next action. Do not reopen every reasonable choice. No numerical success claim or verified business diagnosis is made by this example.