Leadership Tips - Shine a Light on Your People

Introduction

I recently read (re-reading, actually) John Maxwell's book "The 21 indispensable qualities of a leader." This is a great collection of easy to read, short chapters which I highly recommend.
One of the qualities that made me think it was generosity. Maxwell makes his point by saying that "your candle loses nothing when it lights another."

If people do not develop

It takes the discussion in a number of different directions, but it got me thinking about people in leadership positions who do not develop the people who work for them. What a blunder! Think about what happens when you can not develop your people:
Are you stuck. If you do not have a successor ready to take your place, how can you go? The only way out of your current job will be to resign. And if you do, you leave your current employer at an impasse. There is a great way to build your references.
Your people are locked. They are not growing, so they are not going anywhere. Do you think people are going to want to work for you, if this is your reputation? Over time, you're going to have a weak team, the best is to avoid you.

It 'a spiral of death, really. You can not go anywhere, your team is in constant decline in skill, not to mention motivation. Performance results can only go in one direction - the wrong one.
It 'easy to make people in developing a priority in your leadership agenda. Furthermore, the more you grow the less you feel the need to carry the load all on your shoulders. So why is it that some leaders miss the boat on this?

The only reasons that make any sense is a combination of lack of confidence in their persons, and insecurity in themselves. People in developing countries is necessary to give them the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities, and this means that you can not control everything they do. If you have people you can not trust, and do something to change the situation, its leadership should be questioned.

Do The Right Thing

Just the downside - you are a capable leader, you hired good people, and you're secure enough to trust them. How do you help them grow?


Being a teacher. Think about what you learned in your career. Then think of every individual who reports directly to you. What did you learn that John and Susan have? Working with them and share what you know. If you are a really good teacher, do not even notice what you are doing. They will just get it!
Being a coach. It 'similar to the teaching, but not quite the same thing. Be an active observer of what people are doing - with employees, customers, partners. Congratulations on their strengths, publicly when you can. In private, talk to them about areas where they can improve. Do not tie the threads of improvement for something like this performance evaluation. Make private discussions and the safety of non-threatening as possible. Make sure people understand your intent is to help, not criticize.
Provide leadership training. While I am a big supporter of having every leader is a teacher, it is important that your people be exposed to other influences as well. Whether you bring in some outsiders, or send three people off a two-week executive development every year, you want to have a reputation for giving people every opportunity to learn and grow.
Give people credit. If someone develops a presentation for you to provide, make sure that their name appears somewhere in the images. Assuming that the presentation goes well, will eventually recognize the individual (s) who has put together. It takes nothing away from you, and show your support for your people. It seems a small thing, but goes a long way.

You get the picture. Shine the light on your people. Only the insecure and incompetent miss the fact that the light will reflect on you more favorably .......