A day away should not leave your team waiting for a queue of answers. If work slows whenever you are unavailable, start by finding exactly what stops: an approval, customer context, a spending decision or a clash between priorities.
That pattern can have several causes. A manager may lack authority, information, experience or time. A customer may still insist on dealing with you. The useful first step is to examine real examples before deciding what to change.
Find the dependency before you change the structure
Record five decisions that reached you this week. Note who asked, what they needed, how long they waited and what happened next.
For each decision, check who should own it, which information they need and whether they have the capability and capacity to act.
Separate choices that genuinely need your authority from routine decisions that return because the agreement is unclear.
Try one handover before taking a week away
Illustrative example: your delivery manager asks to move a customer booking. Agree whether they can offer a visible available slot without changing price, scope or another promised job.
Give them access to the schedule. Name who resolves capacity conflicts and which commercial exceptions come back to you.
Walk through an ordinary case and an exception. After a suitable real case, review whether the customer received an answer and existing commitments were kept.
Measure what still comes back
Count repeat approvals and reopened decisions, not just hours away from your desk. A quiet week is not proof if no suitable decisions occurred.
If the handover fails, check the reason before taking the responsibility back. Adjust information, support, workload or boundaries as the evidence requires.