Every leader
has two jobs. Your job is to help the team succeed by accomplishing your
mission. That’s the job that gets the most attention, but your other job is
just as important. Your job is to help your team members succeed, too.
“Succeed” means doing a good job, developing skills, earning autonomy,
growing, and much more. Neither job is “the most important.” They’re
equally important, and often support each other if done well.

Developing
people means challenging people. But just issuing challenges isn’t enough. You
must also teach a systematic, common means of creating solutions and meeting
those challenges.

The best way to
develop employees is not to manage them. You need to coach them to success.
This is a process of developing their skills and providing them specific
feedback to meet high standards. Employees want to be on the same team with
their bosses.

To get people
across an organization to systematically work on improvement every day requires
teaching the skills behind the solution. And for that to happen, their leaders
and mangers also need to practice and learn those skills. Be their coach and
lead the team to success!

Your role as a
leader is to develop talent to the highest levels of independent and autonomous
thinking and execution. Great leaders don’t subscribe to a “Do-It-For-You”
methodology of talent management, rather they lead, mentor, coach and develop
team members by getting them to buy-into a “Do-It-Yourself” work ethic. Great
leaders view each interaction, question or even conflict as a coaching
opportunity. Don’t answer questions or solve problems just because you can,
rather teach your employees how to do it for themselves. If you make it a habit
of solving problems for people, you simply teach them to come to you for
solutions at the first sign of a challenge.

Good leadership
is not reflected in the leader’s actions, it is reflected in the impact and
effect of those actions on the team. A leader should adapt to the environment
and what the team needs today without losing sight of what will be needed
tomorrow and always preparing for that moment when he or she will no longer be
there. Guaranteeing the growth and sustainability of the team and the
individuals that comprise it beyond the leader’s time is the ultimate trait of
a great leader. In fact, the true success of a leader can not be measured
without considering the results of the succession plan.