Dear Yogesh,

I lead a team of performance management analysts who are expert professionals. I have been enjoying my work as my team is efficient, and the deadlines are met. In a recent turn of events, my boss told me to develop my team and choose one of the successors. 

I thought this might be a great opportunity for me till the time I realized a few things about my team members. Not a single one of them seems to have any idea how to rise above their day-to-day work and see the bigger picture. For instance, I will share a recent incident that happened. 

I asked one of my team members (I’ll call him Vikas) to make a presentation representing the monthly output and the analysis for it. I laid out all that was required for the presentation, but still had 2 weeks to go. I gave him clear instructions on what the bosses wanted to see in the presentation and what and how to think. I thought I had offered all kinds of support that he could use to make a presentation until the last 2 days of the presentation. 

He sent me the initial draft a day before the presentation. I gave him my feedback, and the final draft was submitted a few minutes before the presentation. Although I had given detailed feedback, the presentation still lacked relevant information and had several typos. I did give him a few last-minute edits, but I didn’t want to be pointy, as it would do more harm than good, especially in terms of his confidence to get him to make changes at that point.

As the meeting progressed, I figured that the presentation not just needed more work in terms of numbers but also in the oration. My boss was not happy at all. He blamed me for this miss. But Vikas has been doing what he does for more than a decade now, and he has delivered much better quality work before, so I had no reason to not trust him. Did I really need to express how important the presentation was? I thought it was glaringly obvious.

This is just one example. There are a lot of things that I see happening in the team that needs to change or go for good. How do I get my people to think in a more structured and strategic way? 

Regards, 

Sharan

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Dear Sharan, 

After reading about your situation, the one thing that is clear to me is that you should focus more on Developing Others. As it has been mentioned before, most leaders would prefer to go where they need to go by themselves and then send a postcard to their people saying “wish you were here” because it takes a lot to get people to see your vision and help them walk in the same direction that you want them to walk. Another thing that I’d like to point out here is that you cannot do this alone. And probably, this is what your boss is trying to get you to see here. You need to shift the onus of the task and get things done through other members rather than doing all of it yourself. If you get your people to see what you see, you will get half of the problem solved. We sometimes assume that what is obvious to us is obvious to all. Big Mistake!

So, the action plan here is to develop a sense of skill for both you and your team. This might look like a lot of work. Because it probably is. 

The first thing to do is to get crystal clear about your expectations. Along with this, you need to keep repeating it to them until you see clear changes and visible differences in the task that has been assigned. See to it that people have a plan of action as to how they are going to meet the deadline with concrete work. 

This will require you to be patient and diligent with your approach. Expect it to be tedious. To assist them with thinking about the greater picture, your main focus here should be to get them to see what the bosses are thinking about, their prompt worries, the issues they are attempting to address, and the dangers they see coming towards the organization. The more you do that consistently, the more your team will foster the propensity for focusing on how their day-to-day work is in the larger picture. You just can't anticipate that they should take their eyes off their everyday work and look in the other direction unless you are coordinating their vision there.

With respect to the presentation that didn’t go as you planned, I assume that the absence of supervision and preparation was obviously not where it should have been. We, as a whole, realize that there is no alternative to practice and time to repeat and prepare. So, fix this with adequate direction and supervision. 

I see that you are concerned about micromanaging so that people don’t parrot what you tell them. I have heard this from great leaders, but here is the thing, If people knew how to do what you want them to do, they would be doing it. So be specific about what you want, teach them if you have to, and stay alongside them until they are able to do it solo. Don’t be scared of turning people into mini-MEs–-as it won't happen. They will be bringing their expertise to the table along with added abilities to see the bigger picture. 

Regards,

Yogesh Sood

The above is an adaptation of a blog written by MADELEINE HOMAN BLANCHARD, on DECEMBER 18, 2021

https://resources.kenblanchard.com/blanchard-leaderchat/people-aren-t-stepping-up-ask-madeleine