As leaders, it is important to understand yourself well. It is also essential to know who you are as a person and who you are as a leader.
Knowing Thy Self
It is from this point of knowing your self that you can look beyond the boundaries of your own knowledge, experience, and expertise and see the vast horizon of things you do not know, of situations you have not experienced, and in things of which you have no ability.
In these fruitful plains of wisdom that are outside your present domain, you should venture forth and consume as much as you can so that you can continue to learn, grow, and build other leaders. Doing this will expand your leadership horizons and make you more valuable to the ones you lead.
This will also fortify you to be something greater for those you lead.
Developing Others
As a leader, your true growth begins when you decide that your honorable goal is to look outside of your own appetite for power, control, or recognition and understand that your real job is to help grow other people in their development. It is when you decide to “show up as a giver” to those you lead and take on the responsibility to grow others around you that you start to wield authentic power.
There is tremendous opportunity and satisfaction as a leader in developing others. By effectively developing the people around us, we elicit excellence in a number of impactful and far-reaching ways.
Developing others is an important function of effective leadership.
3 Ways to Eliciting Excellence
It’s About the Other Guy
The first benefit, obviously, is to the person being developed. When we help someone expand their skill set and knowledge base, we make them more valuable and more versatile, which in turn, instills a sense of pride. Instilling pride in work and workmanship is a cornerstone of the foundation for eliciting excellence. In addition, we prove our belief in them, their abilities, and their potential.
This in turn nurtures loyalty and responsiveness towards you.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
The next way that developing people elicits excellence is the impact on our team. When members of a team grow their abilities and stretch themselves, they in turn inspire others to do the same.
Even though you may not have personally worked with each member of your team (although hopefully you will at some point), the people you developed act as examples of what is possible. And if you have the right people on your team, they will act to motivate others to take the initiative to improve themselves for the betterment of their future and the benefit of the organization.
Looking Inside
The third way developing others brings forth excellence lies within us. By mastering the art of developing people, we become more skilled in our communication abilities, more effective in our leadership, and more leveraged in our efforts. All of these benefits act to make us more productive, more creative, and more confident, thereby eliciting excellence.
Being the Leader Coach
Given the impact and far-reaching implications of developing others, it is critical to master this important function. At the heart of this effort lies the leadership style of “coaching”. Adopting a “coach-like” attitude and way is the fastest and most effective means of developing others.
What does a coaching style of leadership look like?
Being “coach-like” embodies a number of competencies and strategies, all of which interlock and work in conjunction with one another. The first concept to acknowledge is the power of asking and not telling. Many of us, to help someone “get it right” (and in the name of expediency), tell others what to do and how to do it. And while this does get the work done, it does little to develop the other person, their skill set, and their confidence.
The alternative, “coach-like” approach, is to ask. Instead of starting off by telling them what to do, ask them what they would do and how they would do it.
This strategy serves a number of very important functions.
Firstly, it demonstrates that you have an interest in what they have to say. When you listen to what someone is telling you, it acts as a sign of respect. It demonstrates that you value what they have to say.
The next benefit of asking is that their answers will give you a sense of how they think. The answers will show their level of insight and judgment, and will illustrate their problem-solving abilities.
And lastly, listening to the answers to your questions will give clues about how best to help them develop. It helps you understand which aspects of development they need help and guidance with.
When you choose to develop people this way, it creates the opportunity to mentor them, and not to simply “train” them.
Real Sharing
Training is good for technical matters and knowledge acquisition, but if you also want to develop someone’s judgment, you need to share your insights, improve their thought processes, help them understand better ways to approach problem-solving, and basically give them the benefit of your experience.
In addition to adopting a coach-like approach with people, practicing effective delegation is essential. Effective delegation consists of choosing the right tasks to delegate, choosing the right people to delegate to, delegating in such a way that the person grows from the experience, and making sure the work gets done accurately and in a timely manner.
Finding the Meaning
In a nutshell, here is what all of that means…
Choosing the right task to delegate
Generally, any task which doesn’t need judgment is a good task to delegate. Also, if one of your goals is to develop a person’s judgment, then choose a non-crucial task requiring some judgment.
Choosing the right people
The right person to delegate to is dependent upon their present skill set, their level of self-confidence, their openness to growth, and their level of ambition. Clearly, choosing the right people is an art and not a science.
Helping the person grow from the experience
The success of this is contingent upon using a coach-like approach when delegating. Once you’ve clearly explained what needs to get done, ask questions to not only find out whether they understand what’s required, but also to see their thinking process as it pertains to the task at hand.
Ensuring an exact and timely completion
It is essential to let someone know when a task is to be completed and to hold them accountable for its completion. The more important the task, the more critical it becomes to provide ongoing feedback with course corrections. This, of course, will make sure that the work is completed in a timely and correct fashion, but also demonstrates your integrity by following through on the things you said were important to you.
By effectively developing others, you elevate everyone. As people grow and stretch, their value and their sense of pride expand, which in turn, elicits excellence from them and the entire organization.
So what are you doing to develop the people around you? How much real time do you do take in a week to show others how to develop better ways to think, grow, and make better decisions? How are you letting others “take the wheel” and learn by experience? Are you unselfish enough to really make developing people a priority? I would love to hear your thoughts!
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Michael J. Beck is President of Michael Beck International, Inc
He helps leaders improve their personal effectiveness and productivity
Email | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | Web | Blog | Podcast | Skype: xleaders | 866-385-8751
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