Part and parcel with one of the cancers that has been growing in AF leadership over the last 10-15 years: nobody wants to make a decision, lest their superior disagree with that decision and it reflect poorly on them.
So, we have raised an entire generation of "leaders" (really "managers") who have to "run it up the chain" for absolutely every decision.
And this attitude is reflected, now, by the superiors themselves, who expect this kind of "mother, may I" out of their subordinates.
The grand result is that nobody is really empowered to make any decision, and few commanders have the balls to just make a decision <gasp> and risk their bosses not liking it.