How do you lead with autonomy and accountability?

Lead with autonomy and accountability by: Setting Clear Goals: Define objectives and expectations clearly. Empowering Decision-Making: Allow team members to make decisions within their scope. Providing Resources: Ensure access to tools and support needed to achieve goals. Regular Check-Ins: Monitor progress through feedback and performance reviews. Encouraging Ownership: Foster a sense of responsibility for outcomes. This approach balances independence with responsibility, driving motivation and effective performance.

Ensuring everyone is 'on the same page' is definitely key to leading happier, more engaged and higher-performing teams. Team charters can work really well for this, particularly with hybrid or dispersed teams. These are set of agreements (or a 'contract') and can include information like: Where are we headed – what are our milestones, goals, and what will success look like? Who are our stakeholders; who depends on us and who are we dependent on to deliver? What ways of working, rules and processes do we want to set out? How can we encourage accountability? What are our 'non-negotiable behaviours'?

Have you discussed what low accountability looks like compared to high? When I'm coaching a leader or group, I use the ladder of accountability, a concept taught in the lean continuous improvement world, where the rung at the bottom of the eight steps on the ladder is "denial," and the top is "implementation." A tool like this allows you to discuss what behaviours you would notice at each level and how to address each to climb the ladder. It's incredible how much easier it is to express expectations about ability when the roadmap has been built together, and you have a shared framework for what success looks like! Google the concepts or message me, and I'll send it to you!

The way I lead with Accountability and autonomy is being a role model, do things that becomes benchmark for rest of the teammates.

Start by clearly defining goals and outcomes while allowing team members the freedom to choose their methods for achieving them. Provide the necessary resources and support, ensuring they feel equipped to make decisions confidently. Encourage open communication, fostering an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing ideas and challenges. Regularly check in to provide feedback and recognize achievements, reinforcing a culture of accountability. Implement performance metrics to monitor progress and facilitate constructive discussions about outcomes. By balancing autonomy with accountability, you cultivate a motivated team that feels trusted and responsible for their contributions.

Effective delegation is not just about distributing tasks; it's about empowering our team with the autonomy to innovate and implement strategies that drive our safety and environmental objectives forward. By entrusting our teams with specific responsibilities related to health, safety, security, environmental quality, and decarbonization, we foster a culture of accountability where every individual is a key player in achieving our goals. This approach not only elevates our operational efficiency but also solidifies our commitment to leading the industry in sustainable and safe maritime logistics. It's through this strategic empowerment that we can collectively advance our mission to safeguard our employees, our environment, and our future.

A common mistake leaders do here is that they often fail to communicate to others about the delegation and the type of authority given. When coworkers and other employees are not informed about the delegation, the delegate will likely be snubbed off by others and feel helpless.

Providing feedback and recognition is crucial in leading with autonomy and accountability, especially concerning safety and decarbonization. Feedback guides and improves team members' contributions towards our HSE and sustainability goals, fostering a culture where learning and adjustment are continuous. Recognizing efforts in these areas motivates and reinforces the importance of individual roles in achieving collective goals. This approach enhances ownership and responsibility, encouraging innovation and proactive behaviors. Ultimately, it strengthens our commitment to safety and environmental stewardship, making it integral to our success and leadership in maritime logistics.

When you see an employee do their job competently, or especially over-and-above, let them know you saw it. Know your team members best traits & strengths. When you see/hear them using those aspects, let them know you saw/heard it. This feedback is tantamount to growing enthusiasm for your employees to show up with their best-self. When they are noticed, they feel seen & known. And that brings with it trust and loyalty, along with confidence in their ability to be a contribution to the company.

Leading with autonomy and accountability involves creating a psychologically safe space for team members to fail, learn, and grow. Gallup's 2015 Strengths Meta-Analysis emphasizes the benefits of focusing on talents for greater achievement. Encouraging team members to pursue learning paths aligned with their strengths fosters skill development, confidence, and ownership. This approach not only cultivates innovation and adaptability but also nurtures future leaders, ready for the dynamic professional world, thereby enhancing both individual and organizational growth.

Start with a trial period before making it a permanent choice. Moving toward autonomy takes time and doesn’t occur all at once. Besides, employees who are accustomed to controlling environments may struggle with the change at the beginning, so some support is needed.

This step is the most crucial, as a culture of accountability and autonomy cannot exist without trust. This includes trust in YOURSELF as the leader to get out of your team's way after you've delegated tasks and entrusted them to complete them. This involves setting realistic expectations with your staff so that everyone is on the same page and can be held accountable to the delineations you've set forth.

To lead with autonomy and accountability, a leader should understand their team's strengths. Once the strengths of each team member are identified, it becomes easier to delegate tasks without micromanaging or risking burnout. Regular check-ins can ensure the team stays on track and help identify if any additional support is needed for successful completion of a project. Celebrating even small wins empowers and motivates the team.

Each employee will prize different aspects of autonomy. Before leading with autonomy, you will need to figure out what is important to each individual employee. Some might prefer autonomy on how they do their job, others may prefer what to work on, where they do their work, with whom, schedule, workspace, etc.