Dey Grow People: How To Actually Develop Di People Wey You Dey Lead

One person for your team dey quietly stuck. Maybe dem dey do fine on paper, dey hit dem numbers, never problem. But di spark don dim. Dem don stop to ask questions for meetings. Dem dey do di job, no be to grow into bigger one. You fit feel am, and dem fit feel am too.

Most of us, when we notice dis, dey reach for di wrong tools. We go sign dem up for course. We go send link to webinar. We go promise to "carve out time for development" next quarter, and next quarter no dey ever really arrive. None of dat bad, exactly. Na just say no be there growth actually dey come from.

Growth dey come from di ordinary, daily relationship between person and whoever dem dey answer to. Na you be dat. And di data on dis one hard to argue with.

You matter pass di program

Gallup don spend plenty years dey measure wetin dey make people thrive for work, across millions of employees and tens of thousands of teams. One number from dat research dey keep show up: managers dey account for roughly 70 percent of di variance for how engaged team dey. Seventy percent. No be di perks, no be di mission statement, no be di training catalog. Na di person wey dem dey report to.

Dat one fit land as pressure. Read am di other way. E mean say you get far more power to help person grow pass any program wey your company fit buy, and you fit use am for di small moments wey you already dey inside. Two-minute conversation for hallway. Piece of work wey you hand off instead of to keep. Question wey you ask instead of answer wey you give.

Di same research find something specific about where to point dat attention. When people strongly agree say dem manager dey focus on dem strengths, about 67 percent of dem dey engaged. When dem feel say dem manager dey fixate on dem weaknesses, dat number go collapse. Di instinct wey most of us get, to find wetin wrong with person work and fix am, turn out to be di slow road. To build on wetin person already good at na di fast one.

Strengths first, no be weaknesses only

Dem dey misread dis one, so make we dey clear. "Focus on strengths" no mean to ignore real problems or to hand out empty praise. If person dey miss deadlines or dey treat colleagues badly, dat one need direct conversation, kindly and soon.

Wetin e mean na where you choose to invest. Imagine person for your team wey na brilliant writer and clumsy presenter. You fit spend one year dey drag dem presentations from four to six. Or you fit spend dat year dey turn dem writing from eight into di thing wey your whole team dey rely on, and find somebody else to carry di big presentations. Di second path dey produce more, and di person dey feel seen instead of corrected. Dem dey start di day dey know wetin dem dey for.

So before you build development plan for anybody, you must know dem. No be dem resume. Dem. Wetin kind work dey make dem lose track of time? Wetin dem dey do easily wey others dey find hard? Where colleagues already dey go meet dem for help? Wetin dem wan dey good at when dem take dis job? You no fit grow person wey you never actually notice, and most people, if you ask dem directly and without judgment, go tell you exactly where dem wan head. We rare to ask. We dey assume. Na di assuming be where plenty quiet stuckness dey begin.

Stop to give answers

Na di habit wey dey change di most be dis, and na di hardest to break.

When person bring you problem, di fastest thing wey you fit do na to solve am. You sabi di answer. You don see dis one before. To tell dem dey take thirty seconds. E dey feel like leadership, and e dey feel like help.

Na also how you dey keep people small.

Harvard Business Review writers Herminia Ibarra and Anne Scoular put dis one plain for one piece wey people dey quote well about di manager shift from boss to coach. Di old model simple, di manager sabi di answers and hand dem down. Dat one work when di work dey stable and di boss really sabi best. E no dey work now, when di people wey close to problem pass often understand am beta pass you, and when your job less to get answers pass to grow people wey fit find dem own.

Di shift na from to tell to to ask. No be therapy. No be endless open-ended musing. Just genuine question before your advice. Try dis ones for your next conversation:

• "Wetin you don already try?"
• "Wetin you think say really dey happen here?"
• "If I no dey here, wetin you go do?"
• "Wetin be di part wey you least sure about?"

Then wait. Di silence go feel long. Let am be. Most people, if you give dem two seconds and sincere question, go waka most of di way to di answer by demself. When dem do, two things dey happen at once. Dem solve di problem, and dem get small bigger. Do dat one hundred times over one year and you don build person wey no need you for every decision. Na di whole game be dat.

Quieter benefit dey for you. Team wey dey bring you problems pre-chewed instead of raw na team wey dey give you your time back.

Hand over real work

You no fit grow inside your comfort zone, and nobody else fit too. People dey stretch when you hand dem something small bigger pass wetin dem don do before, with enough support say dem no go drown and enough room say dem fit actually own am.

Na where most well-meaning managers dey stall. We dey delegate di boring stuff and keep di interesting, visible, high-stakes work for ourselves, because na for dat work mistakes dey hurt. But dat visible work na exactly wetin dey grow people, and exactly wetin dem need on dem record to move up.

Few ways to do dis without to set person up to fail:

1. Give whole thing, no be sliver. To own small project start to finish dey teach more pass to do one slice of big one. People dey grow from to hold di outcome.
2. Dey clear about di goal, loose about di method. Tell dem wetin "done" look like and why e matter. Then let dem reach there dem own way, even if e no be your way.
3. Name am as stretch out loud. "Dis one bigger pass wetin you don do, and I give am to you on purpose because I think say you ready. I get your back if e get hard." Dat one sentence dey turn fear into vote of confidence.
4. Stay close without to hover. Set check-in or two so dem no dey alone, then comot from di way between dem.

Di hard part na to let dem do am imperfectly. Dem go make choices wey you no go make. Unless something truly dey go off di rails, let am ride. Na for di mistakes learning dey live. And trap dey wey worth to name: di moment things get tense, di urge to snatch di work back dey overwhelming. Resist am. To take am back at di first wobble dey teach person say you never really trust dem with am, and dem go believe you next time.

Di thing wey dey make all of am possible

None of dis dey work for climate of fear. You fit ask di best questions and hand over di best projects, and if people dey fear you, everything go curdle. Dem go tell you wetin dem think say you wan hear. Dem go hide di early mistakes until dat mistakes expensive. Dem go play am safe, wey na di opposite of growth.

Harvard own Amy Edmondson name di condition wey dey make growth possible: psychological safety, di shared feeling say dem no go punish you or shame you for to talk with question, concern, half-formed idea, or mistake. E no be softness, and e no be about to lower di bar. Na di opposite. As Edmondson work show, di teams wey dey learn fastest na di ones where people feel safe enough to dey honest about wetin no dey work, so di team fit actually fix am.

You dey build am for how you dey respond to di small stuff. When person admit mistake, your face dey stay open, or e dey tighten? When person disagree with you, dem dey pay for am later? When person ask obvious question, you dey make dem feel stupid? People dey read you constantly for di answer to one question: e safe to dey honest with dis person? Everything wey you dey hope to teach dem dey depend on di answer to be yes.

Di simplest move na to go first. Talk "I no know" when you no know. Admit your own mistakes out loud. Thank person for to tell you something hard. Each time you do, you dey give di whole team permission to do di same.

Wetin to actually do dis week

To develop people sound like big initiative. Na really handful of small habits, repeated. Pick one or two to start:

• Have one real conversation with somebody about where dem wan go, no be just wetin due Friday. Ask, then mostly listen.
• Catch yourself about to give answer, and ask question instead. Once a day plenty to start.
• Find one piece of work wey you dey hoard and hand am to somebody wey go grow from am.
• Notice out loud something wey person genuinely good at. Dey specific. "You good at your job" no dey do anything. "Di way you cool dat client down on di call na masterful" dey land.
• Di next time person bring you mistake, lead with "thanks for telling me."

None of dis dey take budget or meeting on di calendar. Dem dey take attention, wey na di actual currency of to grow people.

Small word about di weight of am

Quieter side dey to all dis. To carry other people growth, on top of your own targets and your own life, na real weight, and e easy to pour yourself into to develop everybody else while you dey run yourself into di ground. You no fit be steady, safe presence for your team if you depleted and on edge. Your own footing come first, no be out of selfishness, but because na di source of everything wey you dey try to give.

And notice di limits of your role. You fit develop person skills and open doors for dem. You no fit fix wetin no be your own to fix. If person for your team dey struggle for way wey pass work, dey withdraw, overwhelmed, clearly no dey okay, di kindest and most useful thing wey you fit do no be to coach harder. Na to be human, to ask gently how dem really dey do, and to point dem toward real support, doctor, counselor, your organization employee assistance program if e get one, or crisis line if e urgent. To sabi di edge of wetin you fit carry for somebody na im own kind of leadership.

To grow people na slow, mostly invisible work. You rare to see di full arc of am. But years from now, somebody go tell story about di boss wey believe say dem fit do di hard thing before dem believe am demself, and ask di question instead of to give di answer, and let dem try. You fit be dat story for somebody. You probably already be one for somebody, whether you don notice or not.

Sources

• Gallup, Strengths-Based Employee Development: The Business Results
• Gallup, Employees Want a Lot More From Their Managers
• Harvard Business Review, The Leader as Coach (Herminia Ibarra and Anne Scoular)
• Harvard Business Review, What Is Psychological Safety? (on Amy Edmondson's research)