A few years ago I came across the 1-3-1 method, and it stuck. At the time I was running into something every owner and manager hits. Getting real ownership from your team is harder than it sounds. Good people kept bringing me problems and waiting for me to solve them. Not because they lacked ability. Because deciding felt risky, and nobody wants to choose wrong.
I understood it. I also knew I did not want to be the bottleneck. I wanted their thinking. Some of my best calls come from stacking a few honest perspectives and pressure-testing the angles. The problem is that saying go solve it or what do you think does not work. Most people need more structure than that.
That is where 1-3-1 comes in. When someone brings an issue forward, the expectation is simple. One clearly defined problem. Three possible solutions. One recommended path.
Each part does real work. A clearly defined problem is often half solved already. Requiring three options forces them past the first idea and into actual thinking. Asking for one recommendation builds ownership, because now they have skin in the call.
In a company this shifts the whole tone. Conversations move from dependency to initiative. Your inbox stops being a line of people waiting to be told what to do. Meetings get shorter because the thinking is done before anyone sits down. And your best people grow, because you are handing them reps at judgment instead of just tasks.
You can make AI part of this too. Have your team run their three options through it first and ask it to poke holes in each. They walk in with a sharper recommendation, and you spend your time deciding instead of untangling.
It does not kill discussion. It just moves everyone down the field before the conversation starts. And over time people stop waiting to be rescued and start showing up with answers.
If you are the default problem solver in your business, try it this week. One problem. Three solutions. One recommendation. Sometimes the fix is not more oversight. It is better structure.
Originally published on Daniel Rivera's Substack and at danielgrivera.com.