One thing the world’s most successful leaders do

One thing the world’s most successful leaders do

After two decades in retained search and in-house executive recruiting in Fortune 500 companies, I launched The Catalyst Executive to address what I see as a major gap in organizational management across the greater business landscape: proactive support and development for leadership.

What is one thing you need today to be more successful as a leader?

A higher title? More autonomy? A healthier budget??

A higher title may help with internal and external perception of your position of influence and power.

The experience of more autonomy may be useful in your ability to make all the decisions.?

A healthier budget may help in many different ways - hiring more staff, investing in the latest technology, etc.

All of these things are ‘nice to haves’, but I invite you to elevate for a moment. Pull up from the day-to-day. Think bigger, more long term.

One component of being successful is to actively engender trust among your team.

Trust and loyalty among one’s team directly impacts success over time and the world’s most successful leaders are exceptional with this practice.


Here are three things you can do now to engender trust among your people.

  1. Meet with your employees monthly, not annually, to discuss goals and performance.

No one should be blindsided by a poor performance conversation at year-end. I call this lazy leadership. Here are some tips in navigating a monthly performance review conversation:

  • Pick one of your regular 1:1 meetings each month to ensure enough time is blocked and check in on your people’s goals for the year. This might mean the usual 30 minute check-in becomes an hour, or even 90 minutes. Carve out the time and make it clear, this meeting is a check-in on goals.?

  • Ask your employee - what are their business goals for the year (note: some organizations do goal setting quite well and some don’t do it at all. Regardless of where your organization lands on that spectrum, ask your employee about their goals. If your employee isn’t clear on the business goals, work on it with your employee - their goals are your goals, too, afterall).

  • Once clear on the business goals, get clear with your employee on how your employee feels they are tracking toward it. Get clear on what they believe is going well and what they believe is in the way of their success. The key here is to get clear. Without clarity, no one succeeds.

  • Reassess the goals if necessary and commit to what will change by next month when you meet again on this topic. What needs to change may come from you, as the leader (e.g., more resources, shifting deadlines, etc.) or it may come from your employee. Either way, the target outcome is to align on the commitment.

  • If it is your 5th meeting for the year and your employee is still missing targets and expectations, it may be time to discuss the next topic…

2. Prioritize career conversations.

You may think that your employees are responsible for their own career development and, at the end of the day, they are. However, when leaders take an engaged interest in their employee’s career development the business wins.?

We know from many different studies over the years that happy and satisfied employees are more engaged and motivated, which leads to higher productivity levels. If employees feel like they have a future at a company, and they understand how that organization will fuel their career aspirations, it creates trust as well. Whether you recruited the employee or inherited the employee, taking an interest in their career development and where they want to ultimately be, is a sure-fire way to begin a relationship of trust and support. Here are a few tips on how to take an active interest in your employee’s career:

  • Ensure they are clear on what they want from their career. Though it may seem obvious, many people I encounter have never deeply considered the question, “what do I really want from my career?” And then, “how do I want to go about doing that?” For anyone in their 30’s, 40’s, or even 50’s that has experienced a career existential crisis may relate to this. Many people run toward the higher title, the span of control, and more money, only to realize they were never clear on why that direction was meaningful to them once they finally get there.??

  • As a leader, practice holding yourself accountable to your people in their career development. This might include simply asking them in the monthly 1:1, what steps, if any, they took on since your last meeting to get them closer to their career goal in addition to discussing their business goals. Ultimately, your people are responsible for identifying what they want in their careers and taking the steps to get there.?

  • When they feel like you are genuinely vested in their growth and development, a relationship of trust and loyalty ensues. So what are you willing to take on in order to create that?

3. Always be honest about upside potential.

Over my career, I took it on myself to have the career conversation with my employees. Once, I told an employee that while he was never going to get fired from the company, he had reached his ceiling. There was no more growth for him beyond the role he was in. If he wanted to move up, he would need to move on. What struck me most about this conversation was the sigh of relief that came from my employee. He shared he wanted to start looking for his next job but was worried about doing it for a variety of situational reasons. Since we had the conversation, he knew he had my full support. Ultimately, he found his next opportunity and I served as a reference for him. And, it was a tremendous step up for his career.?

On another occasion after broaching the career conversation, my employee shared he was not interested in the growth progression offered within our department. He liked his job but wanted to take his experience and skills to something different from our key function. We had a candid conversation about what he was interested in and how he might cultivate taking the next step internally at the company. With my full support, he engaged in info sessions with other departments and even took on some project work for other teams. Before he took on the project work, I was clear on how much time he would devote to those projects versus focusing on the role he had in my department. With his new project work experience and after some major changes at the company, he ultimately found a role doing what he wanted to do next at another company. As he took that step, I served as a reference for him before he was offered that job.

Whether you are a CEO and having conversations with your executive leadership team or you are a Senior Manager responsible for a team of Coordinators, there is a tremendous opportunity to create and build trust with your people by actively supporting them in all their goals, both business-wise and career-wise.?

When leaders are proactively supported, we build thriving cultures where people aspire to work. We build loyalty, fulfillment and purpose. We achieve big things and we inspire others to do the same.

If you own or operate a business that could benefit from proactive leadership development, I invite you to message me directly to schedule a conversation on how I can support you.

Carolyne Savini has accelerated the growth and development of thousands of executives, leaders, and teams — from multi-billion dollar sports and entertainment organizations to Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits and startups. As founder and CEO of The Catalyst Executive, Carolyne has dedicated herself to partnering with organizations that value proactive executive development. As an executive coach, she empowers leaders by supporting them in removing the barriers in the way of their success.

Learn more about The Catalyst Executive.

Rebecca D Miller

Vice President of Client Management

2 周

Great insights. Trust is fundamental.

Stephanie Hayes

Sr. Executive Director, Campaign and Advancement Operations at Lafayette College

2 周

Great article on how leaders focus on career development of their team each month and coach for performance.

Shawn Tilger

President, GF Sports and Entertainment / Board of Directors at GF Sports Holdings / ATP 500 Dallas Open / NLL Ottawa Bears / World Long Drive

1 个月

Nailed it!!!!

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