Running a ticketing operation means juggling constant change — and the most efficient teams are the ones that can keep moving without waiting for instructions. What if employees didn’t need constant oversight? That question is at the heart of “The Confidence Loop: How to Build Teams That Know What to Do Next,” a hands-on session led by Sonja Baker, Assistant Director of Patron Services and Ticketing at Interlochen Center for the Arts, at INTIX 2026 in Las Vegas.
Sonja Baker
“This is a huge challenge in ticketing because our work never stops changing,” Baker says. “When your team has to constantly ask, ‘What do I do next?’ it pulls you away from the projects that actually move your department forward.”
Many leaders find themselves in this cycle because they rose through the day-to-day work. “We know the details, so it feels natural to keep answering questions and solving problems. But when all the knowledge stays in your head, the team stays dependent, and you stay overwhelmed,” she explains.
Her message is clear: “This is not a staff issue. It’s a systems issue. When you give people a clear framework for how things are done and what success looks like, they stop hesitating and start acting. That is when you get your time back, and that is when your team becomes more confident and independent.”
Attendees can expect practical, hands-on learning. Baker will introduce a simple framework for training teams “so they can work more independently and confidently.”
Baker continues, “We will look at how to identify real knowledge gaps and how to close them in a consistent, repeatable way. One of the tools we will work with is the Training Tracker — a clear, written guide that outlines what is being taught, how it is being taught and how success will be measured. Participants will even start building one for a role or task they oversee, so they leave with something they can put into practice right away.”
Training happens in clear, incremental steps, with no assumptions about prior knowledge. It is all organized through a tool that Baker calls the Training Tracker, which captures exactly what is being taught, how it’s being taught and how success will be measured. The result is a system that “creates clarity, confidence and true independence on your team.”
The Empowerment Engine will be at the center of Baker’s teachings in Las Vegas.
“The Empowerment Engine is my systematic approach to training that ensures two things: you know what your staff knows, and they know what they know. It starts with getting your processes out of your head and into clear SOPs [standard operating procedures]. These can be a written handbook, short, digestible videos or a mix.”
From Hesitation to Ownership
The Empowerment Engine works because it builds self-assurance. “When staff are trained systematically and tested on what they have learned, they know they can handle the job,” Baker explains. “That clarity gives them the confidence to take ownership instead of asking you questions they already have the answers to. The result is a team that steps up instead of checking in, and a workplace where people feel more capable, more connected and genuinely happier in their roles.”
The shift begins with ticketing leaders. “Embedding ownership starts with a mindset shift for the leader,” Baker says. “You have to be willing to let go, give your team room to make decisions and occasionally let them make mistakes.”
Baker has seen this change in action. Holding on tightly may feel safe, but she says real leadership requires the opposite. “Your job is to move the department forward, and you can’t do that if everything depends on you. When you give people clear training and the permission to make the call, they rise to it. That’s how you build a culture of ownership instead of dependency.”
Recognizing Knowledge Gaps
There are clues leaders can watch for that indicate their team is getting stuck, feeling uncertain or hesitating to make decisions. “One of the biggest signs of a knowledge gap is when your team keeps asking you variations of the same question,” she says. “It’s not that they don’t know the answer. They just don’t feel confident making the call on their own.”
Leaders will also notice hesitation or procrastination. “Uncertainty creates avoidance,” Baker notes. “These patterns are great clues for leaders that it is not a performance issue, it’s a training and clarity issue.”
Indeed, when clarity is present, remarkable things happen.
“Because they are the boots on the ground, they often come up with solutions you would never have thought of. A great example from my own team is when I delegated the filming of our SOP videos to my coordinator. He created tight, engaging, YouTube-style videos that our interns are able to follow easily. I never would have had the time to produce something like that. When people feel empowered, they don’t just complete tasks, they elevate them.”
INTIX attendees will leave Baker’s workshop with something tangible. “The simplest tool they can implement right away is the Training Tracker,” she says. “It does take time to build out your full training system, but you start with one task and layer from there. Before long, you have a clear, repeatable structure that gives your team confidence and frees you up to focus on the bigger picture.”
Why You Should Attend This Session
Before she created the Empowerment Engine, Baker says she was in the same place many leaders find themselves. “My team was getting information firehose-style. Some things stuck, a lot didn’t, and I had no real way of knowing what they actually learned.”
Baker’s staff were “smart, capable students,” but they constantly needed her because training was not clear or consistent. “When I shifted to the method I now call the Empowerment Engine, everything changed. My team became confident, independent, and far more engaged.”
Her message to ticketing professionals attending INTIX 2026 is direct: “If you are overwhelmed because your staff needs you all the time, or you’re seeing burnout and turnover, this session will give you the tools to turn that around.”
And she adds a final invitation: “Come to Vegas in January. INTIX is always packed with great information, inspiring sessions and people who truly understand the world we work in. You’ll leave refreshed, full of ideas and with new connections that make a real difference. And it’s Vegas. You really can’t go wrong.”
Editor’s Note: Build empowered teams and reclaim your time. Join us at the 47th Annual INTIX Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas to learn more and ignite success. Register now to be part of INTIX 2026!
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