Saturday 26 October 2019

What Else?

One of our most important jobs as leaders is to develop the next generation of leaders.  We should be able to leave a job or company and know that things will run just as well (if not better) without us as they did when we were in the job. 

I find myself constantly giving answers to questions I’m asked.  This, you would think, is a great habit, but it isn’t.  The classic trap that I (and other leaders) fall into is that we want to “keep things moving” (or to get people out of the office) by giving answers.  

To develop our team, we need to help them to think the way we would in the same situation.  The whole point should be that, if they can do this, they can manage when we’re away from the office for whatever reason (or at the very least hold back only about what is really beyond their authority or experience).  My job is to make sure they grow in knowledge and confidence in their own judgement and ability to get things done.  What we need to do instead is respond by asking them one of several namely:
  • “What do company procedures/policies say?”
  • “What do you think?” 
  • “What do you think we should do?”
The purpose of these (or whatever variation suits in the circumstances) is to get them to start applying their knowledge of procedures, policies or their own sense of what “might” work.  Once we’ve had an answer to the first question (bear in mind that it may take them some time to think it over), we proceed to the next step:
  • “What else”?
The object of this is to make sure they consider alternatives (assuming the organisation allows this!) that might (or might not) be in “the manual”.  Some organisations (particularly highly regulated ones), only allow staff to go “by the book”.  Even so, the next stage will help on this.    Once they’ve done this, we can move on to the next important stage, which is to get them thinking through consequenceson two levels, specifically:
  • “What would be the benefits?”
  • “What would be the downside?”
In other words, we want them to learn that taking action is no good without understanding what will happen and whether this may store up more trouble for our organisation in the short, medium or long term.   All this assumes that we have the time available for what could be a long conversation.  Sometimes this won’t be the case (especially during a crisis).  However, if we invest the time up front, it will pay off later in terms of confident, productive team members, happy customers and time saved. 

Some organisations, as mentioned before, allow staff a degree of flexibility in running their day-to-day work.  Others, for any number of reasons, don’t or can’t.  What is true though is that as we rise up the promotion ladder, we will need to develop the ability to think and make decisions for ourselves. 

Some staff will respond better to this than others.  Those who show real ability will be the true leaders of the next generation.  Those who can’t (or won’t) will find their career “plateaus” after a point in time. 

Our job as their leader now is to coach them to give them the best chance we can to rise as high as they can in future.  

I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website  provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.

Labels: , , , , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home