Autonomy and decision-making

It’s the age-old problem of people being promoted into leadership roles because they are good at their jobs without any leadership training. They continue to operate as they always have, turning to their ‘superiors’ to make decisions.

This ingrained behaviour is not due to laziness, but rather a lack of direction and clear expectations. It leads to a lack of commitment, responsibility, and accountability and ultimately a lack of results, with those at the top becoming burnt out.

Clarify job roles and responsibilities

This is an important basic to get right, but all too often it is overlooked and taken for granted.  It is worthwhile regularly having a refresh of job roles and responsibilities to ensure:

• Performance can be measured

• Behaviours can be measured

• Expectations are set

• Gaps are identified

• Any overlap is identified

• Authority levels are set

This should not only be done at the Leadership Team level but cascaded down through the business.

Trust

Trust is the essential ingredient in high performing teams. There needs to be Trust in and across the whole Leadership Team for them to operate autonomously.

Trust is not something that can be conjured up overnight; it takes time and consistent behaviours for individuals to trust each other. The starting point is raising self-awareness through personality profiling; understanding the impact of self and how to better adapt to others.  The various personalities and dynamics of the entire team are then better understood with strengths, weaknesses and preferred operating styles appreciated and accommodated.

Delegate decision-making authority

Empower team members by delegating decision-making authority as appropriate. This not only distributes the decision-making responsibility but also helps team members develop their own decision-making skills. An important and often overlooked element is to make sure others know of the authority conferred upon them.

Decision-making methodologies

Provide established models for making decisions, share with the team and encourage feedback on their use. One model may incorporate diverse perspectives and teamwork; whilst another encourages independent thinking.

Seek diverse perspectives

Decision-making is enhanced when you gather diverse viewpoints. Encourage team members to share their opinions and ideas, even if they differ from your own. This allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the situation and increases the likelihood of making well-informed decisions.

Coaching culture

Organisations with an established coaching culture provide the conditions for leadership and independent thinking to flourish throughout their businesses. Coaching your team and sharing the methodology of coaching with them to roll-out to their teams, is a long-term game but one which will pay you back in buckets. It encourages independent thinking and provides the framework for autonomous decision-making.

Encourage collaboration

Collaboration involves working together as a team to generate ideas, make decisions collectively, and implement solutions.

This is a fantastic way to fast track the autonomy of the team and get tangible results in the business. Why? Because it:

• Reduces isolation

• Shares responsibility

• Encourages a support network

• Widens the understanding of issues faced by different teams

• Improves the flow of output through the business

• Sparks more ideas through discussion

• Strengthens the business through deeper understanding

This should not only be done at the Leadership Team level but cascaded down through the business.