Deciding to Decide

Some problems come to managers while some they must locate for themselves and since no manager can handle all problems it is important to learn how to set priorities among problems and to give subordinates opportunities for taking care of the minor ones. The following questions need to be dealt with:

•         is the problem easy to deal with?
•        might the problem resolve itself?
•        is this my decision to make?

i.e. are you responsible for it, or does it affect other departments, or does it require information available only at higher levels?