Captain L. David Marquet is known for taking the worst ship in the U.S. Navy fleet to the most effective. One of the principles he credits for this change is moving authority to the information.

In typical team structures, authority and information are proportionate inverses. People at the top usually have the most amount of authority but the least amount of information as they’re often a few levels removed from doing the tangible work themselves. People on the ground doing the work have the most amount of information but the least amount of authority.

Most teams try to fix this by surfacing information to where the authority is, typically by ways of reporting: memos, status calls, documentation, skip levels, etc.

Captain Marquet suggests doing the opposite.

Instead of moving information to authority, move authority to the information.

Give people on the ground the authority to make decisions.

When I’m leading a team, rather than using my authority to make decisions on behalf of my team members with the information, I try to instead use my authority to advocate for the decisions my informed team members have made. For example, if I’m working with a design system team trying to decide what to tackle next on the roadmap, I’ll ask our designers and engineers which component they believe can make the most impact at scale in 6 weeks of work from their perspective. Upon their suggestions and decisions, I'll then use my authority to convince other VPs and stakeholders that it’s worth it to allow us the space and time to pursue these areas.

I also use this technique with my kids. That might sound something like, “You can have anything you find in the fridge for dinner. Lemme know what you find and I’ll make it.”

The key in both of these scenarios is the combination of two parts:

1. A shared acknowledgement of the constraints (“6 weeks” or “in the fridge”)
2. Full autonomy within the constraints (“any component” or “anything you find”)

Especially with that second part, it tracks with another of Captain Marquet’s principles: “Don’t take control; give control.”

If you want to empower those around you, move the authority to the information.

Join 55,500+ subscribers to the weekly Dan Mall Teaches newsletter. I promise to keep my communication light and valuable!