To Be a Great Leader…Teach, Don’t Tell or Do

Many of my clients are quick-learning, driven executives. Often, though, I stress the importance of teaching directs how to accomplish a task/project versus telling them how to accomplish it or worse, doing it for them.

Lack of Confidence Goes Both Ways

“I’m impatient and it’s easier to do it myself,” a client will lament as a reason for completing a project that’s best suited for their employee’s growth.

Here’s the larger issue: when you do something for a Direct that they should accomplish themselves…you illustrate your lack confidence in them. Big mistake! Unless you show confidence in them, how will they be confident in you and your leadership?

Struggle Leads to Growth

When you take over a project, what you believe to be an insignificant act of expediting is actually a loud indication of your distrust in their ability and aptitude. It’s better in the long run to watch your Direct bump and grind through their project to illustrate your patience and belief in them. Allow them to find possible solutions to issues. They may come up with A, B and C as options. If those don’t work, then it presents an opportunity for you to help them find D, the working solution. The collaborative effort will instill a sense that you are working with them, not them working for you.

Then you can do a post mortem on what they experienced and what the learned. As you accomplish this, you reinforce the growth process they just went through.

What is a project you can “hand over” to your directs today?