Step 8: Encourage Ownership and Team Autonomy

Continuing with the Ten Step Trades Leadership

When I'm out there training a group of maintenance tradesmen in industry I often hear "my supervisor won't let me do what I know needs to be done on that machine. I have to put in a report or work order and then it gets overlooked completely until a failure occurs."

Well there may be a few procedural problems to be dealt with here. But ultimately I haven't found too many maintenance leaders who don't want to let their teams own processes, procedures and even machines. It's just good leadership and delegation to let a team of passionate and reliable tradepersons 'run with the ball'.

I always encourage the tradesperson on the floor to communicate with his maintenance management group to find out more about the prioritizing of general service work vs. immediate/emergency vs. planned maintenance work so that he knows the process in use. The process of planning and scheduling work isn't meant to remove the qualified tradesperson from having a sense of ownership. As a leader, you know that it's about making sure that maintenance work is tracked, parts and materials are ready, that jobs are grouped up if possible to make the most efficient use of downtime.

On the other hand, teams and individual tradespersons on the front line can be developed into potential leaders if they are given as much ownership and autonomy as possible. This is where a lot of job satisfaction comes from.

If you're a tradesperson, ask to be included in the maintenance planning meetings where procedures are ironed out. You may get your chance in this environment to claim some additional ownership if you can make a good business case. Yes try to learn about the business/accounting realities in maintenance management. This will help.

If you're a supervisor, consider giving additional autonomy and ownership to your best team. Let them know what the parameters are and how they'll be held accountable (see Step 9) and then deploy. Done right, this should ease some of the workload for yourself and your planner.