Have you ever been on a delayed flight, forced to stressfully sprint to your connecting flight? The one thing that would have helped most is if passengers without tight connections let you exit the plane first—but no one followed the crew member’s request on the matter.

I’ve been there many times. But recently, I witnessed something different—a flight attendant who took a new approach in this exact scenario that solved the chaos and benefited everyone involved.

As leaders, I believe we can learn from his approach and apply this strategy to boost shared accountability within our teams.