Developing Team Members

Cathie Leimbach • July 5, 2022

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?   

Speaking Up Is Not Defiance. It's Duty.

By Cathie Leimbach • June 23, 2026
Most leaders say they want employees to speak up. They want people who spot risks, question assumptions, and help the organization make better decisions. Yet many employees hesitate to do exactly that. Why? Because leaders often respond to speaking up as if the speaker is complaining, criticizing or resisting. When people fear being viewed as difficult, they stop sharing what they see. The organization loses valuable information, ideas, and perspectives. A recent McKinsey article found that teams with high psychological safety are two to three times more likely to generate breakthrough ideas. When people feel safe speaking up, better thinking follows. The best leaders understand a simple truth: Speaking up is not defiance. It's duty. When employees question assumptions, raise concerns, or offer a different perspective, they are helping the team avoid blind spots and make stronger decisions. That's why effective leaders don't merely tolerate speaking up—they invite it. They ask: What are we not seeing? What assumptions are we making? Who might see this differently? What information are we missing? Just as importantly, they respond with curiosity instead of defensiveness. They thank people for expressing their perspective. They explain how input influenced decisions. They make speaking up safe. Because organizations don't improve when everyone agrees. They improve when people feel responsible for helping the team see what others may have missed. In healthy organizations, speaking up isn't rebellion. It's responsibility. It's duty. Leadership Reflection Think about your last leadership team meeting. Did people simply agree? Or did someone help the team see something it otherwise would have missed? Download 5 Questions That Surface Better Thinking and make speaking up a productive part of how your team thinks, decides, and performs.

Put Your Brain in Gear When Using AI

By Cathie Leimbach • June 16, 2026
Artificial Intelligence is becoming a powerful workplace tool. It can summarize information, analyze data, draft content, and generate ideas in seconds. But there is a growing risk leaders need to recognize: AI can sound convincing even when it is wrong. In an article by Erica Dhawan, she describes a legal case where attorneys used ChatGPT to help prepare a court filing. The brief looked professional, the reasoning seemed logical, and the citations appeared legitimate. There was only one problem: several of the cited cases did not exist. The AI had fabricated them. The danger wasn't carelessness. It was trust. Because the information was presented clearly, confidently, and professionally, nobody stopped to question it. Psychologists call this the "fluency heuristic"—our tendency to assume information is accurate when it is easy to process and sounds credible. As leaders, we cannot allow polished answers to replace critical thinking. When you find yourself thinking, "This is too good to be true," put your brain in gear. Dig deeper. Investigate. Verify the facts. Ask what assumptions were made, what information might be missing, and what evidence supports the conclusion. AI can be an incredible assistant. It should never become a substitute for judgment. The smooth answer is not always the wrong one—but it is often the one that deserves the most scrutiny. Before You Act, Verify. The biggest risk with AI isn't bad information. It's believable information that's wrong. That's why we created the AI Verification Checklist for Leaders —a simple 5-minute tool designed to help leaders challenge assumptions, identify missing information, verify conclusions, and make better decisions before acting on AI-generated recommendations. Download the free AI Verification Checklist for Leaders and start asking better questions before making important decisions.