---
title: "Value Team Autonomy over Rescuing"
source: "https://virtualddd.com/heuristics/value-team-autonomy-over-rescuing/"
authors: ["Andrea Magnorsky", "Andrew Harmel-Law", "Kenny Schwegler"]
tags: ["decision-making process", "decentralised decision-making", "facilitating software architecture and design", "sociotechnical systems"]
type: "value based heuristics"
question: "What is the role of leadership when a team is struggling with a decision?"
submitter: "Kenny Schwegler"
---

# Value Team Autonomy over Rescuing

Leaders should facilitate and enable team decision-making rather than intervening to solve the problem themselves, if there even is a problem, because often the team doesn’t experience one themselves. Taking over decisions, even with good intentions, creates a cycle of dependency and disempowerment. The goal is to build the team's capacity to make better decisions in the future. 

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A manager, seeing a team is stuck, asks "How can I help you make this decision?" instead of declaring what the decision will be and solve it for them. They actively refuse to make the decision for the team to break a pattern of learned helplessness.