Give leaders responsibility
Once you have put new managers and executives in place, you need to give them the tools to perform their jobs. At TD Bank, one of those tools is autonomy.
Managers still have to make plans and decisions that fall in line with the overall goals and objectives of the company, but how they approach achieving those objectives falls largely into the hands of the individual leader.
Carbone says it is one of the essential ingredients in engaging team members.
“When you’re talking to them, you explain to them what you’re trying to accomplish and you ask them for feedback on what they would do, how they would handle this, what are some of their ideas,” he says. “If you do that, immediately the person becomes engaged. They now feel like part of the process. That is opposed to telling someone ‘OK, here is what I need you to do, do it and report back to me on your progress.’ That is not good leadership. That is a dictatorship.”
You need to create a balance between giving managers freedom and structure. To do that, you need to continuously find opportunities for dialogue, both on a one-to-one basis and in a group setting.
Through discussions and dialogue, Carbone attempts to steer the decision-making process just enough to ensure that the company goals aren’t lost in the process. Beyond that, he lets his people flex their creative muscles.
“What you need as a leader is to get Joe or Cathy or whoever into a room and tell them, ‘I need your ideas and I need your thoughts. Why don’t you go over this and get back to me with some possible solutions,’” Carbone says. “Then, you have a dialogue on how to go about it. They’re definitely going to feel more engaged and they’re going to work with more freedom in their thought process.
“If you just dictate to people, they’re not going to feel good about it. Mostly, they’re just going to feel the pressure to get something done. If you create that kind of atmosphere, you’re not going to get the most thought-provoking responses. You’re going to get what they think they need to tell you, what they think you want to hear. I don’t want that. I want honesty from people. Even if it’s not necessarily the route I’d take to a given solution, I want to hear other people’s ideas and opinions.”
If you’re used to your own specific approach to ideas and problem solving, it might be difficult to accept other approaches. But Carbone says you need to trust your people and trust your hiring process.
“First and foremost, you’re not going to give autonomy to just anybody,” he says. “You’re going to give autonomy to people you have faith and confidence in, people who you know have grown from some of the decisions in the past, people who you know wouldn’t make a decision they’re unsure of without consulting people further up the ladder. If you’ve done this right, people should earn that level of responsibility over time. It’s earned; it’s not just something you hand out.”
Trust is a two-way street. You need to trust your managers to seek out help on difficult decisions, but they need to trust that you won’t yank authority away from them the instant you become uncomfortable with something they do. That is a recipe for destroying morale.
Carbone says it comes back to the fact that you don’t have all the answers, your way probably isn’t the only correct way, and you should be willing to admit that, even though you’re in the company’s top spot, you’re still just a cog in the machine.
“Someone might ask me, ‘What do your people think if you don’t have all the answers?’ My answer is, ‘What if I give my people the wrong answer because I really don’t know and I didn’t take the time to find the right answer?’ You can’t let ego get in the way of doing what is best for your people or your company.”
