Developing Others
Developing others was absolutely my favorite part about being in a formal leadership role and is what ultimately led me to becoming a coach. For me, there is nothing more fulfilling than seeing someone succeed and realize their full potential.
How your employees feel about their job influences some of the most important measures of the health of your organization - retention, customer service, revenue and operational efficiency. Did you know that as a leader, you influence at least 70% of your employees' engagement? YOU directly have that much control over how engaged they are in their job. This is according to a recent Gallup study and presented in the book, It’s The Manager.
How are you developing your employees? Are you intentional? Are you helping them leverage their strengths? Building their confidence?
You may be familiar with the 70-20-10 Model that is a commonly used formula in the world of training and development. In this model, 70% of the knowledge should come from on the job experience, 20% should come from interactions with others and 10% should come from formal educational events. The point is, most development should take place on the job and NOT in the classroom. So often people think the only option for development is taking a course. I might be a little biased but, coaching is also a great alternative!
Let's keep it simple, I will share with you one thing you can start doing immediately to develop your employees. You can use this easy fill in the blank statement / question (below) with each of your employees. The only catch is, you have to follow through. This is not to say you have to implement all of their ideas but you do have to listen openly and consider it as a possibility.
Mad Lib challenge (do you remember Mad Libs. . .super cool word games?):
(Proper Noun), you are really good at (Verb - skill). How else can you use your skill (s) to (Verb).
Here are a couple examples:
Benjamin, you are really good at connecting with our customers and building trust. I notice that people trust you to help solve problems. How else can you use that skill to improve our sales?
Kate, you are very efficient and accurate when you create work orders. Our technicians never have questions when they work your orders. How else can we use your skills to create efficiencies?
Give it a try next week!
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