Growing Leaders Takes Time

Look for workers with great potential to advance the business, then invest in their development

Time management is a great idea for organizing your pumping business, building efficiency and getting things done. As a tool for leading people through change, however, it misses the mark. In fact, managing time is the last thing you want to do when leading change. Instead, invest time, and lots of it, in the people with potential to help you lead change. The returns may surprise you, and I have an incredible story to illustrate the point.

A few years ago, I became upset when a player on the NFL’s Carolina Panthers attacked a teammate and subsequently was suspended by the team for one game. I felt the punishment was too lax (after all, the attacked teammate ended up in the hospital) and wrote an angry letter to the team’s owner, Jerry Richardson, expressing as much.

To my surprise, Richardson not only acknowledged my letter, but he went one giant step further. He offered to visit me and my 13-year-old son, who was a big fan of the team, and would bring along the star player in question, wide receiver Steve Smith.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

The pair made the two-hour drive from team headquarters to my home and stayed with us for three hours. I learned that day that Smith is a good man who made a bad mistake and was willing to learn and take responsibility for his actions. I admire him for that. From Richardson, I learned the power of a leader being personally invested in future leaders who can make a difference.

Richardson invested time in me that day, but more importantly, he invested time and energy in Smith, someone with potential to lead change on the football field. I can only imagine the discussions they had as they drove back and forth and the bonds they forged and then carried forward. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the following season Smith emerged as a star and helped lead the Panthers to a Super Bowl appearance.

Richardson identified Smith as someone I call a diamond-in-the-rough, a leader with untapped potential. Then, he personally invested his time and energy to help Smith unleash his potential. You can do much the same for the uncut diamonds in your company. Here are four tips to help get you started:

Hold yourself accountable for people development

Common comfort zones, such as crunching numbers and formulating strategy, have their place. But both aspects of your business are useless if you don’t have leaders to execute accounting and planning procedures. Therefore, hold yourself accountable for the people side of the business, too. Recognize more pressing issues will always come up, so do whatever it takes to make finding and developing people a priority. Schedule time for building relationships into your calendar. Make a list or create a spreadsheet to track your progress if you must. Set goals for people development and hold yourself to them.

Identify your “diamonds-in-the-rough”

You can’t invest in your future leaders if you don’t know who they are. Some “diamonds” are obvious. Their talent and ability dazzles and stands out. But others may require energy and effort to unearth. Try using the technique of management by walking around. Get out of your comfort zone. Take the new employee to lunch. When you go out in the field, make it a point to meet people relevant to your business, then follow up with them.

Polish your gems by asking questions

The best leaders ask questions — lots of them. They don’t invest much time in running around telling people what to do. In fact, they don’t hire people who have to wait to be told what to do. Instead, they unleash talent by presenting problems and asking for ideas rather than offering solutions. They understand their job is to lead, not to do. They encourage people to think. They encourage people to act. They remove organizational roadblocks that hold talent back.

Explore ideas and build relationships beyond the boundaries of work

Engage people on a variety of topics beyond your common industry issues. Refining someone’s leadership skills often requires helping them look beyond their everyday world for novel solutions and product innovations they can bring back to their work. Become emotionally invested, too. Spend time getting to know your future leaders. Find out what matters to them, at and away from work. Sometimes engaging in small talk can lead to big insights. You may discover a personal situation that is holding someone down or holding him or her back, such as the illness or loss of a loved one. You may not be able to do anything tangible to help, but simply knowing that you care can be reassuring and provide a boost. If you want people to be there for you when the going gets tough, you need to be there for them first.

A FINAL WORD

If investing in people sounds like a “soft” activity to you, you’re right. It’s not about immediate bottom-line results. But rare is the business that can consistently return good, hard results without making soft investments in people first. People determine whether you win or lose, whether the game is football or business. To better lead change, stop managing your time and start investing it in people. Then enjoy as the wins pile up.



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