Developing Team Members
An owner of an employee placement agency once told me that the most difficult businesses for him to work with were small family businesses with 1 or 2 employees. Every day the owner/manager worked along side employees. When one task was completed they told employees what to do next and how to do it. The employees simply did as they were told week after week.
And then, when the owners' families went on vacation, employees were left alone to staff the ship without daily instructions. Inevitably, when the owners came back to work they were disappointed with how many tasks weren't done in the preferred way and how many poor or mediocre decisions the employees had made. The owners of these small businesses made all the big and small decisions every day they were at work, yet, in their absence, expected employees to make the same quality of decisions they would have made.
This absence of employee development is not limited to family operated businesses. It is the way many supervisors in several departments of most companies lead - or fail to lead. They tell new employees something about what is expected on the job. Some leaders share a little while others provide a mentor for the first week, month, or quarter. And then, once the employee 'should' be able to handle their work independently, they leave them alone to get their work done. And when errors are discovered by the supervisor, the employee is again told what to do and left alone to implement improved practices.
However, employees don't become competent and confident from being told and then left alone. It is much more effective when supervisors ask employees how they suggest today's tasks should be done. Leaders help employees think when they let employees work independently and then check in every hour or two to answer questions or redirect and retrain.
How well do you support your employees to gradually learn to think on their own? How often do you check in with new hires to be available to help them increase their work quality? How could you enhance your employee leadership practices?
