Leadership is about making others better because of our presence as senior executives and making sure that impact lasts in our absence.

I am often asked what I emphasize as a leader. There are some things I spend time getting the organization to understand. One is the delegation of responsibility and authority. The second is to make room for mistakes. The third is to spend time on reflection and learning.

One of the most important things we can do as leader is to delegate authority and not just responsibility. Often, we see that people are given a lot of responsibility, but rarely does it come with authority. As a senior executive or a manager, we need to push power downward, across the organization, empowering people at all levels to make decisions. Distribution of responsibility and authority gives potential strategic leaders the opportunity to see what happens when they take risks. It also increases the collective intelligence, adaptability, and resilience of the organization over time, by harnessing the wisdom of those outside the traditional decision-making hierarchy. As a senior executive I always push power downward, empowering people at all levels to make decisions.

In several of the organisations I have been in as CEO to restructure, I have pushed responsibility and authority downwards in the organisation, but also been clear about requirements and expectations for results. When individuals are given responsibility and authority, they gain more confidence and skill. And when opportunities to make a difference are common throughout an organization, a “can-do” proficiency becomes part of its identity. It is about nursing the organization to make decisions by being autonomous.

As a senior executive, I always say that the next best thing we can do is fail. If we never fail, we will never perform or develop either. As a senior executive we need to make it safe to fail. A company’s espoused statement of values may encourage employees to “fail fast” and learn from their errors. That works well until there is an actual failure, leading to a genuine loss.

As senior executives we must ensure the acceptance of failure and be willing to admit failure early in both the practices and processes. One cannot learn only from efforts that succeed; one need to recognize the types of failures that turn into successes. The organization also need to learn how to manage the tensions associated with uncertainty, and how to recover from failure to try new ventures again. The organization need to recognize the types of failures that turn into successes.

Some organizations have begun to embrace failure as an important part of their employees’ development. As leaders, we must encourage employees to spend reflection time in the organization. The organizational theorists Chris Argyris and Donald Sch?n call time to reflect the “double-loop learning.” Single-loop learning involves thinking in depth about a situation and the problems inherent in it. Double-loop learning involves studying our own thinking about the situation, the biases and assumptions we have, and the “undiscussables” that are too difficult to raise.

Through our goal of reflection, we raise our game in double-loop learning. We need to a greater extend learn to question the way in which we question things. Solve the problems inherent in the way we problem-solve. Start with single-loop learning, and then move to double-loop learning by taking the time to think: Why did I make that decision? What are the implications? What would I do differently next time? How am I going to apply this learning going forward?

Reflection helps us learn from our mistakes, but it also gives us time to figure out the value of our aspirations, and whether we can raise them higher. It allows us the chance to spot great ideas using what we are already doing or things that are going on in your life. Managers are often caught up in the pressures of the moment. A mistake or a high-pressure project can feel overwhelming. But if we take a minute to step back and reflect on these problems, it can provide the space to see what we did right. Some reflection is more productive than others. Psychologists warn about “rumination,” or dwelling on deceptive messages about our own inadequacies or the intractability of problems in a way that reinforces our feeling of being stuck. To avoid this pattern, deliberately give yourself a constructive question to reflect on. For example, what are the capabilities we need to build next? How can I best contribute? Human capital teams can help by training individuals in these practices and ensuring that all managers support their team members who take the time to reflect.

As senior executive we need to recognize leadership development as an ongoing practice. We need to realize that learning and development is never done, however experienced we may be. From my point of view our most important task as senior executives to developing new leaders in the organization. We must train and mentor the next generation of leaders in any organization. Then we get a self-sustaining and learning organization. Unfortunately, we often see in many organizations that top management must decide everything. On the other hand, they often wonder why the organization is not achieving its results. Things are so simple, where employees are not encouraged to autonomy and freedom under the responsibility of authority to make decisions, one will rarely be able to achieve results. Leadership is about making others better because of our presence as senior executives and making sure that impact lasts in our absence.