Get Your People to Think Independently and Hold Them Accountable

As leaders, how do you create an environment where your people think freely and independently for themselves vs. waiting for direction from you? How do you instill accountability and the drive for self-improvement and development for your team? Think about it. Can you truly motivate others to exhibit these types of behaviors?  

You can't motivate people any more than you can empower them. Employees have to motivate and empower themselves. However, you can establish an environment to make this possible. The key is knowing how to do so for each of your employees.

It starts by creating a human connection with individuals on your team that allows you gain a deeper understanding of what makes them unique and how you can do a better job in supporting their needs and potential for success.  

I often ask people who attend our leadership programs, how could you possibly motivate and encourage individuals on your team if you know very little about them? What are they interested in? Do they have a family and responsibilities that need to be balanced with work? What are they passionate about? What does success look like for them? What is it that they want to achieve inside or outside the organization?  

Taking it one step beyond creating a human connection, there are three simple things you can do to set up an environment that will challenge people to think independently, grow and act on their own.

#1. The most successful leaders understand how to connect with individual’s mindsets, capabilities and areas of opportunity for growth. They use this knowledge to challenge their teams to think and to stretch them to reach for more. They ask questions to stretch others thinking even if they have already figured it out themselves. Highly impactful leaders listen and ask questions while managers have a tendency to tell which disempowers others from taking action.

#2. Highly effective leaders excel at asking empowering questions so people can think independently, and are not afraid to make decisions and take action.  An empowering question begins with, “If you knew that you could….” An example, if you knew that you could exceed your sales objective, what is the first thing you would do? Or, if you knew that you could establish a high-performing team, what is the first thing you would do? If people are stuck, give the space they need to think and reflect, and then follow it up with an empowering question. If they are having a tough time, then ask another empowering question or phrase it differently and give them time to process their thoughts.

#3. Successful leaders hold their people accountable to their objectives and commitments by following up and asking questions in a way that is non-offensive and supportive versus a command control style of management. Do you have formal and informal one-on-one discussions with your team in order to stay up to date on their progress? Sticking to a regular schedule is critical, as it sends a message of value to your employees that you care. Continuously cancelling one-on-ones and having them infrequently sends a message that your people are not important. Make commits to have regular discussions, as it will establish a culture of accountability.

Being inquisitive and curious are the skills underpinning these insights that you can put into action to challenge people to think for themselves, take full accountability for their career and performance. Your behavior sets the tone for this type of environment and culture, so be the change you want to see in others. 

We encourage you to try these suggestions and let us know how your team reacts to your approach. What other employee engagement ideas have worked for you? Do you have any additional advice or insight you would like to share? Let us know what you think. I invite you to give me a call today at 1.855.871.3374 or send me an email at joanne.trotta@leadersedgeinc.ca.