You can’t empower your people just by telling them to take more ownership. You need to build their judgement step by step, so you feel confident letting go and they feel confident making decisions. Over time, you reduce how much they depend on you, avoid becoming the bottleneck, and build a team that can act more independently and handle change more effectively.
As a leader, what are you doing to be able to trust your people more?
I was running a leadership workshop recently, and we were talking about trust – especially in an uncertain world, where nobody really knows what the future holds.
Of course, to be an effective leader, your people must be able to trust you. Even if you can’t give them certainty, you can still give them confidence and clarity for the future.
But, in this workshop, one participant said,
“What you’re saying makes sense for my team to be able to trust me, but my problem is I often don’t trust THEM enough.”
In other words, when she delegates a task to them, she doesn’t trust they have the knowledge, experience, or wisdom to do it well – especially if things change along the way.
This is common, and she herself recognises it’s bad for everybody. It’s bad for her team members because they don’t get to develop skills and grow. And it’s bad for her because she is either overworked (taking on work she can’t trust delegating to somebody else) or a bottleneck (always having to micro-manage everything they do).
Does that sound familiar? If so, what can you do?
Well, the bad news is you can’t just click your fingers, send them on a training course, and hope they learn everything they need to know to gain your trust.
The good news is you CAN do it – but step by step, not all at once.
Instead of focusing on “trust”, think about building good judgement in your team.
Part of the reason you’re a leader is because YOU exercise good judgement – that’s why your own boss trusts you. Now, it’s your turn to build that in your team.
Here’s a simple activity that helps to build judgement – not in a training course, but in everyday work.
The next time a team member asks you for your help, before you offer any advice, imagine saying:
“I trust your judgement.”
and then letting them do whatever they think best. You don’t have to know what they will do, but you trust them to do the right thing.
Keep in mind you’re only IMAGINING saying this. If you can actually say it confidently, go ahead and do so. It will make your life (and theirs) better immediately, and reinforces your trust in their judgement.
But sometimes you know it would be inappropriate – and possibly even negligent – to simply assume you could trust their judgement. In that case, of course you address their immediate need:
Give them the answer.
Show them the process.
Pitch in and help.
Even do it yourself with them watching to learn for next time.
But don’t stop there.
After helping them, ask yourself:
“What do I need to do so that next time she or he comes to me, I CAN say, ‘I trust your judgement’?”
Usually, you can’t trust their judgement yet because they don’t know what to do, don’t know how to do it, or something is getting in their way. So, you use this as a development opportunity, and work together to do what it takes to build their judgement for next time.
This isn’t a perfect process. You might try something to build their judgement, but find that next time it still isn’t enough. That’s OK – you just keep doing this over and over again.
Does that sound like a lot of work?
Well … maybe. But if you don’t do this, you’ll be stuck forever.
More importantly, you’re building your CULTURE, which happens through consistent behaviour, not just one-off interventions.
If you’d like to know more about building a culture of change, join my free online presentation, “Keep The Change”. Register here, and feel free to invite others in your team and network as well.
