You’ve seen it happen. An expert hired for their deep knowledge and experience suddenly finds themselves buried under reports, meeting requests, and endless approvals. It’s a frustrating dynamic, one that seems to be particularly prevalent in larger organizations.

But why does this happen? Why do companies, especially the big ones, rob their subject matter experts of the decision-making authority they were hired for?

It often comes down to process. In small organizations, decisions are made swiftly, often out of necessity. You have to move fast, stay lean, and the trust is implicit because every person is critical to survival. It’s a flatter structure—everyone wears multiple hats, and there’s less red tape. If you’re an expert, your expertise isn’t questioned. You’re there to drive action, not fill out forms.

In contrast, large companies develop layers of oversight and bureaucracy that slow everything down. It becomes less about expertise and more about making sure the "right" processes are followed—endless sign-offs, interdepartmental reviews, and risk mitigation meetings. Experts become part of the machine, not the drivers of it. Instead of making decisions, they’re tasked with feeding the decision-making process—turning their knowledge into documentation for someone else’s approval.

What’s lost here isn’t just efficiency. It’s engagement, morale, and innovation. Experts thrive on moving the needle, but when they're transformed into administrators, they lose the sense of autonomy that brought them to the role in the first place. And the company loses its edge.

So what does this tell us? It suggests that big companies, in trying to manage scale, often sacrifice the agility and trust that fuels innovation. They unintentionally sideline the very people who could help them navigate complexity. Small companies, by contrast, may struggle with resources but often get more out of their experts because they rely on them to take initiative and move things forward.

In the end, it’s a cautionary tale. If you hire someone for their expertise, give them the authority to act on it. Otherwise, you risk turning your best people into frustrated paper pushers—and stalling your company’s progress in the process.