Intrenion

Pattern: Shadow authority

Decisions are effectively made by actors who are not formally accountable for them.

Situation

  1. In this condition, decisions are formally attributed to specific roles while different individuals or groups are widely understood to have determined the outcome.
  2. In this condition, official approval meetings occur after key choices have already been shaped or settled through informal channels.
  3. In this condition, organizational charts and documented mandates do not match the individuals who consistently influence final outcomes.
  4. In this condition, those who sign off on decisions cannot fully explain the rationale without referring to prior private discussions.
  5. In this context, employees direct lobbying efforts toward individuals without formal authority because those individuals reliably influence outcomes.
  6. In this condition, controversial or high-risk decisions are publicly owned by accountable leaders who do not visibly control the deliberation process.
  7. In this condition, records and compliance documentation reflect procedural correctness while participants recognize alternative centers of influence.

Assessment

  1. This occurs because formal authority structures distribute accountability in a visible hierarchy while influence flows through less visible dependency networks.
  2. This occurs because actors with reputational or political capital can shape options before they enter formal decision arenas.
  3. This occurs because senior leaders seek to reduce personal exposure by delegating official responsibility for contested outcomes.
  4. This occurs because complex organizations create information bottlenecks that empower those who control access, sequencing, or framing of proposals.
  5. This occurs because performance evaluation systems measure results tied to formal roles but do not track who actually made the decision.
  6. This occurs because informal coalitions provide faster coordination than formal governance mechanisms, making them attractive under time pressure.
  7. This occurs because correcting the misalignment would require reallocating risk and authority simultaneously, which threatens incumbents who benefit from the current arrangement.

Consequence

  1. Without a decision to realign authority and accountability, formal responsibility will continue to diverge from actual control over outcomes.
  2. Without a clear decision on decision rights, conflicts will be resolved through informal influence rather than through transparent arbitration mechanisms.
  3. Without a decision to document substantive authorship of choices, risk exposure will remain concentrated in roles that lack decisive power.
  4. Without a decision to expose informal veto points, strategic direction will remain vulnerable to untraceable intervention.
  5. Without a decision to consolidate authority within accountable roles, governance structures will remain procedurally intact but substantively hollow.

Decisions

  1. We decide to document in writing our position, objections, and the origin of key inputs before formally approving any decision because this gives us a traceable record that aligns our accountability with our actual influence instead of verbally endorsing outcomes shaped in private discussions, and accept that this may create visible tension with informal power holders.
  2. We decide to refuse formal ownership of decisions whose rationale we cannot publicly articulate in our own words because this gives us control over our risk exposure instead of signing off based on undocumented prior agreements, and accept that this may delay decisions and reduce our standing as cooperative actors.
  3. We decide to limit our participation to formally convened decision forums and decline off-record pre-alignment conversations because this gives us clear boundaries around where influence is exercised instead of shaping outcomes through private channels, and accept that this reduces our access to early information and informal leverage.

Direct formulations

  1. I will record in writing my position, objections, and the sources of key inputs before approving any decision, and I will not rely on private verbal alignment.
  2. I will not sign off on any decision whose rationale I cannot explain publicly in my own words.
  3. I will decline participation in off-the-record pre-alignment conversations and limit my involvement to formally convened decision-making forums.