As a leader, you want your team members to grow and develop their skills and potential. But how can you challenge them to step out of their comfort zone and take on new responsibilities, while also providing support and guidance? In this article, we will explore some strategies and tips to help you balance these two aspects of coaching and mentoring your team.
One of the first steps to challenge your team members is to identify the areas where they can improve and learn. You can do this by assessing their current performance, skills, and interests, as well as the goals and needs of the organization. You can also ask them to self-reflect and share their own aspirations and challenges. Based on this information, you can create a development plan for each team member that outlines the specific actions, resources, and feedback they need to grow.
Give them some leeway to make mistakes. When they do, expect them to resolve them and learn from them. Teach them that when there's a problem, they should come to you with not just the problem, but several ideas for solutions
In my experience. - Know their career goals, strengths & weaknesses (develop career to target) - Identify a challenging opportunity that has a big win (motivation) - Ensure you can support a structure that gives them a thought path on how to approach the challenge - Be there for questions, don't solve it for them, facilitate the approach (critical thinking) - Reward small wins (motivation) -
In my experience, when you empower them with autonomy and decision making authority; they would be compelled to bring out the best. Set clear expectations and goals to achieve. Let them find a way, be available to counsel on any aspect (even if it requires discussing the same thing 1000 times). Your goal should be to help them come out of the cocoon and be a passionate professional who is ready to take ownership and not just complete tasks. This obviously comes after you diligently vetting the team member for their capabilities. Situational leadership plays an important role in this. Only some team members make this cut. For the rest you have to follow different approaches of Situational leadership.
Identifying areas of improvement and learning for team members is crucial for their professional development and the overall success of the organization. By assessing their current performance, skills, and interests, as well as considering the organization's goals and needs, you can gain valuable insights. Asking team members to self-reflect and share their aspirations and challenges helps to foster open communication and enables you to tailor development plans that meet their individual needs. These personalized plans outline specific actions, resources, and feedback, providing a roadmap for growth and improvement. Ultimately, this approach promotes a culture of continuous learning, engagement, and productivity within the team.
I think in addition it’s important to create spaces for explicit celebrations of everyone’s strengths and what they have done right - like this the team develops awareness for everyone’s strengths leading to a more efficient use of talents.
Another key step is to set clear and realistic expectations for your team members when you assign them new tasks or projects. You should communicate the purpose, scope, and criteria of the challenge, as well as the timeline and deliverables. You should also clarify your role as a coach or mentor, and how often and how you will check in with them. By setting clear and realistic expectations, you can help your team members understand what is expected of them and how they will be evaluated.
In your leadership approach, setting clear and realistic expectations is a fundamental principle. You believe in providing a transparent roadmap for your team, outlining achievable goals, and fostering a shared understanding of the desired outcomes. By doing so, you aim to empower your team members with a clear sense of direction and purpose. Your leadership perspective involves aligning expectations with both individual capabilities and overall project objectives, ensuring that goals are challenging yet attainable. This approach not only cultivates a sense of accountability but also contributes to a positive and productive work environment, where everyone is aware of their role in the larger organizational vision.
I believe in the power of SMART goals. Setting Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound objectives provides clear direction and focus. This strategic approach not only facilitates measurable progress but also significantly boosts team's productivity and morale.
I would defer to use this realistic goal thing. The problem with realistic goal is you can't dream to come out of your comfort zone. Sometimes people give up on very initial level as they feel it's not realistic because it's not done earlier. But every greatest thing has ever happened because before that day it didn't happen earlier. So let's be realistic that realistic is temporary. Dream big and make it happen!
At Novartis, we embody a ‘high challenge, high support’ culture. When assigning tasks, we set clear, realistic expectations about the goals, timeline, and deliverables. Our leadership goes beyond supervising; we act as coaches and mentors, ensuring regular, supportive check-ins. This approach helps team members understand their roles, embrace challenges, and grow confidently within our supportive environment.
Marketing with purpose | Founder at Spiring ?? Creating value through connection
- In my experience, transparently communicating expectations to the entire team, not just individuals, is crucial. This approach ensures everyone understands their responsibilities, their colleagues' priorities, and the broader project context. It fosters a collaborative environment where team members are aware of and respect each other's roles and goals. - I always define a 'minimum expectation' as a non-negotiable baseline and a 'desirable deliverable' as a more ambitious target. Recognizing and valuing efforts towards these ambitious goals fosters a motivated team environment, encouraging team members to strive for these higher objectives while ensuring essential tasks are reliably completed.
One of the most important ways to support your team members while challenging them is to provide constructive feedback. Feedback is essential for learning and improvement, as it helps your team members identify their strengths and weaknesses, and adjust their actions accordingly. You should provide feedback regularly, timely, and specifically, focusing on both the positive and the negative aspects of their performance. You should also use feedback as an opportunity to acknowledge their efforts, celebrate their achievements, and motivate them to keep going.
Constructive feedback is paramount for leaders as it fuels professional growth by highlighting strengths and areas for improvement. This feedback loop enhances performance, fosters employee engagement, and contributes to team development. It serves as a tool for conflict resolution, aligns teams with organizational goals, and builds trust. In a concise manner, providing constructive feedback is instrumental for leaders in creating a positive work culture, boosting morale, and ultimately ensuring the success of both individuals and the team as a whole.
It's been helpful for me to remember that feedback is about conversation, not telling. It is important to hear what my team member thinks and feels. This is what completes the feedback loop and paves the way for learning and growth.
Providing constructive feedback is a pivotal method that will bolster your team members while simultaneously presenting them with challenges. It is a cornerstone for both learning and enhancement, offering them the means to discern and refine their competencies and areas of opportunity, thereby enabling them to tailor their actions to achieve better outcomes. It should serve as a platform to formally recognize their diligence, commemorate their successes, and inspire continued growth and professional development.
From my experience as President of Engage Partners, I've learned that timely feedback is key. One example is when I noticed a team member struggling with communication skills. I provided specific guidance on active listening techniques and recommended resources for improvement. By balancing constructive criticism with recognition of strengths, I created an environment that fostered growth and motivation. Remember, feedback is a powerful leadership tool that helps your team thrive.
I’ve personally observed the immense impact of constructive feedback in team growth. Far too often, leaders solely highlight negatives without offering concrete examples or timely data, hindering effective development. To provide genuine support while challenging team members, it’s crucial to give constructive feedback consistently, not just during talent reviews but in regular 1:1 sessions. This approach ensures understanding, fosters ongoing improvement, and offers the necessary support for addressing development needs. It’s imperative to regularly check in, guiding and assisting team members as they work towards improvement, fostering a culture of continuous growth and support.
Another way to support your team members while challenging them is to encourage collaboration and learning among them. You can do this by creating a culture of trust, openness, and feedback in your team, where team members can share their ideas, experiences, and challenges with each other. You can also facilitate peer coaching and mentoring, where team members can learn from each other's strengths and perspectives. By encouraging collaboration and learning, you can help your team members leverage their collective knowledge and skills, and overcome their difficulties together.
Leadership savvy is a learned skill that grows with coaching, practice, and support. To accomplish this, encourage learning by giving your team networking opportunities. Employees need the space to learn, grow, and take charge of their careers. This promotes self-awareness, enables personalized goal-setting, and facilitates development within a supportive community. Give them opportunities to know and learn from leaders. Mentoring is a great way to improve leadership skills. It helps retain valuable team members and builds an internal leadership pipeline. Mentorship reinforces learning and collaboration with observation, coaching, support, and role modeling.
Sharing knowledge and mentoring others will help to improve ourself. Making the team work in collaboration is extremely important to the growth of the firm and same time professional advancement also. In business environment working in silos is one of the major problem for inefficiency and conflicts. Keeping an open channel and genuine approaches with no tolerance to internal politics is what the approach leadership should be adopting for better outcomes.
I strongly believe in the power of collaboration and learning within a team. Encouraging a culture of trust, openness, and feedback fosters an environment where team members can freely share ideas, experiences, and challenges. Peer coaching and mentoring further enhance this process by allowing individuals to learn from each other's strengths and perspectives. By embracing collaboration and learning, teams can tap into their collective knowledge, skills, and support to overcome difficulties together. For instance, one recent example involved our team members pooling their expertise to tackle a complex client project, resulting in an innovative solution that impressed both our client and our team.
Collaboration and learning are crucial for team growth. Here's how to bring these elements to life: ? Create a Trust-Filled Atmosphere: Encourage a culture where sharing ideas and challenges is welcomed. #TrustInTeams ? Promote Open Conversations: Foster dialogues and feedback exchanges to learn from diverse experiences. #OpenCommunication ? Initiate Peer Mentoring: Pair up team members for mutual learning and skill sharing. #PeerMentorship ? Acknowledge Team Achievements: Celebrate successes together to reinforce a united team spirit. #TeamSuccess Nurturing collaboration and learning helps teams leverage their collective wisdom to overcome challenges and grow. #TeamDevelopment
Creating connections, fostering collaboration, and encouraging open communication within a workplace yields multifaceted benefits. These practices build a sense of camaraderie among team members, enhancing morale and overall job satisfaction. Collaborative efforts harness diverse skills, leading to innovative solutions and improved problem-solving. Effective communication ensures clarity, reducing misunderstandings and boosting productivity. Moreover, such interconnectedness nurtures a supportive environment, where individuals feel valued, motivated, and empowered to contribute their best, ultimately fostering a vibrant and successful work culture.
Finally, you should adapt your style and approach as a coach or mentor to suit the different needs and preferences of your team members. You should recognize that each team member has a different level of readiness, confidence, and motivation to take on new challenges, and adjust your level of support and direction accordingly. You should also use different methods and tools to coach or mentor your team members, such as questioning, listening, demonstrating, or delegating. By adapting your style and approach, you can help your team members grow at their own pace and in their own way.
Recognize individual strengths. That's how I adapt my leadership style. I know that one size doesn't fit all. So my approach isn't a rigid framework but a flexible dance, adapting to the rhythm of each team member. Growth flourishes when people feel supported, not stifled. It's about instilling confidence to tackle hurdles while assuring a safety net below.
I believe that performing a DISC evaluation to know each others styles and to identify how to best communicate with each individual is a great start to planning an employee outline for their future. Find out what their plans for the future are to align with them. Update it every 6 months.
At Novartis, we tailor our coaching and mentoring to each team member’s unique needs, applying the will/skill model. We alternate between coaching and mentoring, using questioning, listening, demonstrating, and delegating techniques. This adaptability ensures personalized support, fostering individual growth in alignment with our leadership culture.
One thing I’ve found helpful to succeed as a leader is to be ready to adopt a situational leadership style- adapt according to the situation. A leader should recognize that various situations would call upon a different leadership style. In a time of crisis or transition a leader need to act differently than usual and transformational leadership style would supersede! Most importantly, leaders should recognise that team members are different and to keep them motivated a leader needs to adapt to their different needs and aspirations. For example, some individuals prefer intrinsic rewards (recognition) versus extrinsic rewards (monetary compensation), etc
I am currently learning about leadership authenticity and the importance of being consistent. Adaptability requires finding ways to align individual purpose with that of the organisation - using various frameworks and models to develop a dynamic approach in response to business change. Mentors should be able to hone a persons’ authenticity and adaptability to cope with complexity.
I ask people if they can think of alternatives. As examples: If they are upset with a colleague, I ask if they are sure their interpretation of an interaction is the only possible interpretation, or if they can think of another reason why the person said or did something other than the reason they're assuming. If the person sees only one way of doing something or is afraid of change, I ask them to sit with a new idea for a couple of days and let me know why those ideas could work.
You will need to create a culture of continuous improvement where challenges are seen as opportunities for learning and development. Encouraging risk-taking and innovation, while ensuring a safety net for potential failures, fosters an environment where employees are comfortable pushing their boundaries. Regularly recognizing and celebrating both small and significant achievements boosts morale and motivation. Integrating mentorship or coaching sessions where team members can discuss their career aspirations and obstacles can provide personalized guidance and support. Lastly, involving team members in higher-level strategic discussions can give them a broader perspective and inspire their professional growth.
In my experience leading project teams, I've found that acknowledging individual strengths and growth areas fosters a culture of continuous improvement. When assigning tasks, clarity in expectations is crucial. I maintain an open feedback loop, providing constructive insights regularly. Encouraging a collaborative environment, where team members share expertise, cultivates a collective learning atmosphere. Flexibility in leadership style, understanding unique motivations, and adjusting my approach has proven effective. Tailoring support to each team member's needs ensures they are challenged to grow while feeling supported in their professional development journey.
1) Identify individuals who are willing to grow. These are the people you should target first. Point 4 explains why??♀? 2) Push the willing beyond their comfort zones, but not too fast or extreme. Put them in situations where they need to use underdeveloped skills to achieve the task. This forces growth and comfort in adversity ?? 3) Always provide a safety net. Encourage failure. Create a science laboratory. Analyse and review everything. Feed findings back into the next cycle. Both learner and manager need to evolve ???? 4) The reluctant individuals will see the success, growth and development of other colleagues and will be far more likely to follow their lead and example, instead of being pushed by management to grow ??
In my opinion, we need to have some steps : 1) Put our trust to them 2) Getting understand with their capability 3) Give a task with a clear direction 4) Provide an appreciation feedback in every effort Perhaps this can be a good cycle for challenge our team members