Earlier today I was doing a coaching session with a long standing business coaching client. The Challenge he had was how to get his management team to start to lead, not just manage.
What’s the difference?
Managers delegate, explain, hold accountable, and generally direct a subordinate’s behavior.
A leader on the other hand, helps empower a team member to fully own a function of the business. They develop, groom, and inspire.
Here are my 5 top leadership suggestions to go through with your management team to help them develop as leaders as opposed to mere managers of your team:
1.Leaders let their team set their own goals and create their own plan for accomplishing those goals. Sure you as a leader need to make sure the goals fit into the larger business context, but rather than you merely delegating, give your team the ability pick (or at least verbalize) their own goals. This feeling of agency or autonomy is a heady stuff to a competent team member. It breaths of trust and respect in their abilities. Also, let them help design the accountability structure that they will use to self-monitor their results and be accountable to you.
2. Leaders don’t solve, they ask. The next time a team member comes to you with a challenge, resist your temptation to reflexively solve. Instead ask, “How do you think you should handle this?” If they still need help, coach them to the right answer versus just giving it to them.
3. Leaders lead through their behaviors — role model the behaviors you want from them.
4. Leaders accept that growth requires permission to make mistakes. Give them room to grow, allow them to make mistakes, help them clarify what they learned. Bottom line: be a coach, not a manager.
5. Leaders build other leaders. Encourage your supervisors and senior team members to replicate all the above with their team members.
So there you have my best five leadership suggestions to coach your leadership team on. If you want to learn more about leading a business and scaling it the right way, I’m about to teach a new webinar that will focus on how you can grow your business without sacrificing your health, family, or life to do it.
If you’d like to join me on this special webinar training, please just click here to learn the details and to register. (It’s free.)