Investing in People
Practical Applications in Servant Leadership, part 6
(Previous posts: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5)
In the previous post in this series, one of the ways I encouraged you to care about your direct reports was to “Put time together in a career growth plan.” As that is what this article is all about, I wish I had planned that segue into this deeper dive on making a development plan for your employees. Intentional or not, it’s a smooth as silk transition to the Gallup Q12 Engagement survey 6th question:
Q6: There is someone at work who encourages my development.
A culture of mentorship and development is key to building diverse teams of excellence. Every leader would say he or she wants to work with the best people, but there’s so much that gets in the way of that goal.
One thing that gets in the way is individual selfishness, or self-preservation, and the hoarding of talent. I totally get it: when you have a rock star working on your team it’s hard to imagine succeeding without her or him. When they learn enough to do a more challenging job, it could very well be your job, or could mean moving on to another team.
But that’s what Upside-down Leadership looks like! Putting your team and their needs and growth before your own convenience and success. Remember you work for them, not the other way around, and your job includes encouraging their development. And while they’re growing, you get to have a front row seat to see that transformation. I’m getting pumped up just thinking about your next developmental success story!
Most of the time I see the phrase “Performance Improvement Plan” (PIP) it’s all about gathering evidence to fire someone. Ouch. Let’s make performance improvement a normal part of work! As usual, here’s three things you can do, practically, to encourage the development of people under your care:
Make room! Make room in the budget, first off, for the training and development of your team. I think at least 5% of salaries is a good benchmark. Also make room in the calendar. When people want to work on something that improves themselves they should know that they can do that in work hours, not be required to do it in their personal time. Every one of your direct reports should be able to use 5-10% of their work-week for self-improvement. And make room in the delegation process: give your team members an opportunity to do more challenging work even if it means someone else will notice and want to promote them into a different team.
Make a plan together. Invest your time into knowing how each of your direct reports can best grow and develop. Schedule develomental check-ins every month or so separate from your regular 1 on 1 meetings. Customize the plan based on her or his superpowers. I know that point is a repeat from the previous article in this series. Repeating important points is not only in my nature, repetition can also be helpful.
Read a book together that has developmental value. And don’t expect them to read the book on their own time (see point 1). This will allow you to focus on your own development and theirs at the same time! If you need a suggestion on a book to start with, ask in the comments and I’ll give you some picks that will fit your situation.
Developing people has risks. It’s empowering and they become more valuable. Some of them will leave for better opportunities outside of your team and that’s OK. Because you care about them you’ll want what’s best for them, even if it’s an inconvenience to you.
If you have a reputation as a leader who develops people and encourages them, you won’t have trouble filling the holes left by people moving on to more challenging work. At some point, a team player you’ve developed may even come back as your boss and return the favor. Everyone, including you, should have an opportunity to grow.
A quote I see on LinkedIn regularly: “Train people well enough that they could leave. Treat them well enough that they’ll want to stay.” Some will stay, but that shouldn’t be your goal. Caring about and encouraging the development of your direct reports means standing back and letting each person find his or her own ceiling, even (or especially!) when that’s higher than yours.