This one is HUGE!!! I know I’ve struggled to learn this lesson as a leader and I know I’m not alone. It’s sometimes very difficult to find the right balance of letting those you lead do their job (which might include them failing at times) and taking over and doing it for them.

Of course we know that failing to let others take responsibility for their jobs, and failing to let them do their jobs full out with your support, are not going to help them to grow. In fact, I often here leaders complain about how their staff lacks proactivity and that staff do not seem to think. However when we dive in deeper, we see that often times as leaders, we have trained our staff to be this way. We shoot down their ideas, or insist that things must be done our way. By taking over and fixing things, we also deny them the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

Yet, if our jobs as leaders is to inspire and help others to grow and achieve things they don’t think possible. How are we doing this if we are not giving them the opportunity?

I offer that the answer to all of this is to have courage in your ability to lead and build trust with your team. Teach them how to fish and give them a voice so that their ideas are encouraged and heard. Delegate and hold them to account by setting clear expectations with mutually agreed timelines. Then have the feedback meetings and offer productive constructive feedback that will encourage them help them to grow.

As leaders, we must also manage our expectations and our emotions around failure. No one likes to fail or to not follow through on what was promised. What’s critical and even more important than the failure itself is how you recover. How you encourage learning from the failure and how you proactively take resposiblity and handle the clean up objectively (without blame). Your modeling this will show your team what is meant by accountablity so that they take this on as a way to conduct themselves.

So leaders, if you want a high performing team, the question becomes, how can you have the courage to support your team members, lead them, give them latitude to succeed and grow, and temper your need to control or micromanage things?

Even when mistakes are made, how can you give them the space and the support to correct them, without jumping in and taking over. How can you monitor without hovering and takng over? It’s not easy, I know. It requires courage and trust in your team members, and trust and the support of your leaders as well. Yet it can be so rewarding for you to see true leaders evolve under your stewardship.

If you don’t feel like you have the courage to do this, ask yourself this:
What would it take to get me there more fully? Put some thought into this so you can make the changes in you that would positively impact your ability to lead.