I've done it a few times successfully. My direct reports were very pleased with the way of working, and preferred it to some other working environments. How I

I've done it a few times successfully. My direct reports were very pleased with the way of working, and preferred it to some other working environments. How I worked was taken 100% from a section in "7 habits of highly effective people". This is how I communicate with them the first time: 1. X is the goal. How you get there is up to you. 2. If it was up to me, I would do Y, but of course you can choose. 3. Every x days you can show me your progress. Then we can see how far we are towards the goal. 4. I have x hours available for you. Tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it. So the trick is basically to put them in charge, not you. You have the supporting role, they can request things from you. But the goal needs to be very clear. One other thing they mentioned is that I set very clear objectives, and other projects they worked on were not that clear.