You want to visit a customer, supplier, or conference.
The purpose is clear.
The costs are reasonable.
But there is a new rule:
Every travel request must be signed by the CEO.
𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐄𝐎 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬?
Travel approvals are usually simple decisions.
In most situations, employees and supervisors have enough context to judge whether a trip is appropriate.
A simple approval process with clear guardrails and a four-eye principle is often sufficient.
But in organisations under pressure, hierarchical approval structures are sometimes applied to increasingly simple decisions.
That is often a sign that:
– trust is low
– standard work and decision-making principles are unclear
– budgets are not truly owned locally
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭?
→ Senior leaders spend time on micromanagement
→ Decisions slow down unnecessarily
→ Valuable organisational capacity gets lost in administration
If these questions resonate with you, please feel free to drop me a DM or explore the HELIBLICK Leadership Program starting in September via the “Visit my website” button.