Develop Your Team!
Message To: All Leadership
From: Misty Waterspring, Faux CEO
Greetings Folks,
Every organization is a reflection of the capabilities of its people. More capable people, more capable organization. Your role as leaders is not merely defined by your titles but by the transformative impact you wield over the development and aspirations of your teams.
Leadership Expectation #3: Develop Your Team!
Over the next 90 days, please carve out a ~1-hour meeting with each of your direct reports to fully discern their aspirations, strengths, and passions. Convey our genuine interest in helping them accelerate their career growth and success. Take detailed notes and copy me. Keep your own copy handy and refer to it often. These are the most important notes you’ll take all year.
In the wake of these meetings, draw from your experience and networks to paint pathways that elevate each member of your team. For example, provide introductions to people in their areas of interests or to their peers in other parts of the organization. Take them along to client meetings and job sites. Recommend specific continuing education, online resources, books, podcasts, etc. Send more valuable ideas, advice, information, and resources as you come across it throughout the year. Do all you reasonably can as an experienced leader to accelerate the development of your team. The benefits:
1. Talent Retention: Investing in your team fosters loyalty and commitment, reducing turnover and retaining our top talent.
2. Leadership Pipeline: We need a strong leadership pipeline. Actively developing people helps us identify and prepare them for future leadership roles.
3. Employee Engagement: Engagement goes north when we genuinely support people’s career growth.
4. Skill Enhancement: More capable people, more capable organization.
5. Innovation and Creativity: A culture of continuous learning encourages people to bring new ideas to the table.
6. Succession Planning: Active career development helps identify and prepare top performers to step into critical roles when needed.
7. Morale: People who feel valued enjoy higher morale and job satisfaction.
8. Client/Customer Satisfaction: A positive, well-developed team delivers better service.
9. Organizational Reputation: Organizations known for their genuine commitment to career enhancement attract top talent, fueling their reputation as an employer of choice.
10. Holistic Approach: Professional development also fosters personal growth and well-being.
11. Continuous Improvement: A consistent focus on career enhancement promotes improvement at all levels of the organization, including this CEO and our Board.
Our leaders now have three fundamental expectations:
- Be an active listener.
- Always cause people to care more, never less.
- Actively develop your team.
I'll add a fourth and final expectation next week.
As I’ve said, these are the expectations of the leadership title. Your ability to deliver on these informs your capacity to fulfill your current and future leadership roles.
Onwards and upwards!
Misty W.
The final leadership message from Misty Waterspring is next week. In the meantime, much health and happiness!
Dave
Feedback and blowback, hit dave@goodnewsfriday.com
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Written by me, not ChatGPT, with speed assist and blunder avoidance by Grammarly.
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