Build Judgment. Then Help Others Build Theirs.

A team member tells you loan turnaround times are slipping. Employees are frustrated, and members are calling for updates.

You probably have questions. Where are applications getting stuck? Has volume changed? Are we short-staffed, or are we creating unnecessary work?

You may already have an opinion about the answer.

What you do next matters. Sometimes you need to step in quickly. Other times, you have an opportunity to let someone work through the problem with your support.

Both are part of leading. The challenge is knowing when to make the decision and when to help someone else learn how.

If you are preparing for greater responsibility, start by looking at how you present problems.

“Our loan turnaround time is increasing” gives your manager information. A thoughtful recommendation gives them something to consider:

You have explained what you think, acknowledged what you do not know, and suggested a reasonable next step.

Your manager may disagree. Someone from another department may point out a consequence you missed. That is part of the process. A recommendation gives everyone a starting point for a more useful conversation.

You do not have to arrive with the perfect answer. You should be able to explain how you reached yours.

A recommendation can make sense for your department and still create problems somewhere else.

Lending wants faster approvals. Operations needs complete documentation. Finance needs to understand the effect on funding and margin. Compliance needs to know that required steps remain in place.

The member experiences the whole process, including the parts your department does not control.

Before you recommend a change, talk to someone who will be affected by it. Ask where they see additional work, risk, or an assumption that needs checking.

That conversation may change your recommendation. Better to find that out while you can still improve it.

This is one way to prepare for executive responsibility in your current role. Get used to considering consequences beyond the result your own team wants.

I would be careful with the phrase “Bring me solutions, not problems.”

The intention is understandable. You want people to take initiative and think before handing something off.

But what happens when an employee notices a serious concern and has no idea how to fix it? You do not want them waiting to speak up because they think a solution is the price of admission.

Try this instead:

You can expect thoughtful preparation without requiring certainty.

You also need to distinguish a development conversation from an urgent escalation. A potential member, security, compliance, or financial risk may require immediate attention. Follow the appropriate escalation process first. There will be time to discuss the reasoning afterward.

For a routine operating issue, you may have room to ask questions and let the person work through the options.

Experience helps you recognize problems quickly. It can also make it easy to take over a conversation before you have heard what someone else thinks.

Before offering your solution, ask:

“What do you recommend?”

Then listen. If the reasoning is unclear, ask what led them there. If they have considered only one option, ask what else they explored. If the recommendation sounds promising, ask about the main tradeoff.

Do not turn this into a test where they have to guess the answer you already decided on. Be open to a different approach.

And if you disagree, explain why. “We tried that before” does not teach much on its own. What happened? What constraint still applies? What would need to be different this time?

Letting people hear your reasoning helps them understand what you consider when making a decision. Hearing theirs may reveal something you overlooked.

People need opportunities to make decisions, but they also need to know where their authority begins and ends.

Choose something appropriate to their experience. Agree on the outcome, the limits, who needs to be involved, and when to bring you back into the conversation.

You might say:

That is more useful than “Run with it,” especially for someone taking on a new responsibility.

The amount of independence should fit the decision. A small process test is different from a multiyear vendor commitment or a change affecting regulatory obligations.

Once you agree on the boundaries, give the person room to work. If you step in at every point where you would have done something differently, they still do not really own the decision.

The follow-up deserves as much attention as the original recommendation.

Did the change help? What did the team miss? Did an assumption turn out to be wrong? Were there consequences nobody anticipated?

Look at the reasoning as well as the result. A good outcome does not prove every part of the decision was sound. A disappointing result does not automatically mean the person used poor judgment.

Use the review to decide what to keep, what to change, and what the person should carry into the next decision.

If you are preparing for broader responsibility, choose one real decision and write a short recommendation. Include the options, your preferred approach, the main tradeoff, and what you still need to learn. Ask someone outside your department to challenge it before you present it.

If you already lead a team, choose a decision you would normally make yourself. Ask someone for their recommendation before sharing yours. Discuss the reasoning, agree on their authority, and let them take the next step.

Then follow up.

As your responsibilities grow, you will be expected to make harder decisions. You will also need people around you who can think through a problem, raise a concern early, and take responsibility for a recommendation.

How you handle the next conversation is a good place to start.

Keep Ascending.