5 Tips to Learn to Lead Through Others

Early in our leadership journey, we tend to act more like the captain of the team rather than the coach. We are “leading others” rather than “leading through others.” This works fine when the company (or team) is small. But at some point, you’re going to feel like you’re running a circus - and you become a big bottle neck for things getting done. Moreover, you will find that you fill all the available hours in your day; there’s still massive work to be done; and overall productivity slows as the team waits on your next call of action. 

To really grow your business, you must learn to lead through others.

Here’s 3 Reasons Why:

1. Scale requires a team of talented individuals who know what to do in their span of control and are driven (and accountable) to achieve results. When no one can prioritize or accomplish work without your input, productivity stalls.
2. As a leader, you must have time to work “On the Business.” If you’re in every meeting and weighing in on every decision, you have no time to think about growth. Instead, you waste time and resources working “In the Business.” 
3. Ultimately, talented people want to grow professionally with a greater span of opportunity and accountability. Checking in with you every day on routine decisions will NOT lead to professional development. It fact, that behavior drives talented people away.

Leading Through Others Has 5 Parts:

It will take some effort to stop being the lead player on the field and make the transition to coach. Step one is really easy: have a focused conversation with your direct report about what you actually want. Then, follow up to see what happened, to provide further coaching, and to create a culture of accountability. Here are the five parts to achieve impactful leading through others:

Speak with Clarity. The journey of leading through others begins with a conversation to create clarity around your objective or the issue of your concern. Condense it to the core objective or issue. Then communicate that message and nothing more. Speaking with clarity ensures that your message arrives intact. Ask for confirmation that your message was received as sent.

Frame the Approach. One reason leaders feel they need to always be in every meeting or have the final word on every decision is because they aren’t sure the individual(s) reporting to them will approach the situation correctly. If you feel that way, it’s probably an indication that your team needs additional coaching or leadership development. While it may take you 10-15 minutes longer in the conversation, take the time to coach a bit when you delegate an objective or issue to help frame the right approach. Over time, the team member will improve and you will gain confidence in their approach.

Coach with Questions. Instead of framing exactly how the team member should do everything, ask them to walk you through the approach they are planning to take. That gives you an opportunity to involve them in shaping the most effective approach. When leading through others, you are communicating with a direct report with the expectation that they will exercise their own legitimate leadership role to get something done further down in the org chart. If they are successful, you get back significant time to reallocate to working on the business.

Set Perspective. When any set of objectives or actions move down the chain, people instinctively anticipate the negative. Most teams are almost patterned to expect that a directive from the leader is going to create more work or be hard to implement. You have an opportunity to disrupt that pattern of negative thinking. In your conversation with your direct report, ask them for their perspective on the objective. If it’s negative, help them see how this helps the business. Most problem solving or growth projects provide a team member the opportunity to learn, a chance to make an impact, and an opening for being recognized or to create something really excellent.

Follow Up. Remember that anytime you delegate an objective, you must follow up. Early on in this leadership transformation, your one conversation may not be enough to get the job done. But - over time - you will develop a culture of accountability if you follow up. Managers quickly learn when leaders are just tossing off another idea or complaint that will never be checked on again. Your team is too busy to go running after every brilliant brainstorm you share in a meeting. The signal that you are serious is when you actually follow up. In a good follow up, there are only three questions to ask: What did you do? What was the result? What are you going to do next?

If the issue was resolved, make sure that you recognize the individual involved for their efforts. If not, the 3rd question sets the stage for another round of leading through others (and coaching). Throughout this process, be respectful of the fact that you are influencing people who influence other people. Influence comes when people believe that you value them. That means you must ask good questions and then elevate them by sharing your perspective. Pattern the behavior you wish to see further down the organizational chart. 

Summary:

When you learn to effectively lead through others, you are reinforcing (rather than undermining) the role of leadership, accountability, and professional growth throughout your team and your organization.

I often hear leaders lamenting that their team does not seem to show ownership of their work. But I watch those same leaders steal that ownership away by always trying to be the team captain. In some cases, it seems they believe they can play every position on the team better than those they have hired. Unfortunately, the leader cannot have it both ways - you are either the coach of your team or you are not. 

I encourage you to practice leading through others. You entire team will benefit grow, your business will thrive, and as the leader - you’ll free up bandwidth to further scale and grow your business.