To Build a Self-Managing Team, You’ll Need This
Most leaders want a self-managing team.
Their dream scenario would be to hire the perfect group of people, each with precisely the right skills needed to do his or her job... then wind them up a mechanical toy and set them loose to get on with it.
Ideally, each team member would also have finely tuned mind-reading skills, so they know exactly what to do and when to do it… and have it on your desk for precisely 4:50pm the same day.
Everyone should have a dream, right?
In point of fact, when Saturn is ascendant in the 5th house and Mercury is no longer retrograde, I’ve seen it happen—about every 732 years.
Ok, I don’t know that that means. But I do know you don’t have to wait for the planets to align to have what you want. The best way to get a self-managing team is by investing in their growth.
Now, when I say “invest in their growth,” I don’t just mean send them on another “How To Do Your Job Marginally Better” course.
I’m talking about allowing them to learn from you, being there to guide them.
The problem is, many leaders don’t want to spend the time and energy it takes to do this. But ignoring this aspect of leadership comes at a significant cost.
As a coach to leaders, one of the things I’ve discovered is... people want to grow and get better, that means “Mentoring” is one of the more common Leadership Languages.
In other words, the language of mentoring is what most people want from their leader.
Most ambitious people want to grow, develop and get better at what they do, because it gives them nice things like personal satisfaction, a sense of achievement and so on. Oh yeah, it could also mean a bigger paycheck... which doesn’t usually hurt.
Some of the people on your team may even need growth like they need food. These people thrive on learning new things and continually developing their skills.
They want a leader who is a good teacher, able to guide them in their work… and they want a boss who recognizes their need. This gives them the drive and passion for what they do.
Plus, can you cook? That would be a big help.
OK, scrap the last one... but these people still want you to develop them. They want to experience the Leadership Language of “Mentoring.”
If you want a self-managing team, you will have to meaningfully “speak” their language. When you fill that need, they thrive and end up doing a lot more for you.
If you don’t express an interest in helping these people grow, they’ll feel like there’s not much point in working for you… and sooner or later they’ll jump ship.
That’s the opposite of a self-managing team.
How can you be sure if this is one of the Leadership Languages your team needs to hear? That part is simple. Just give them access to my free quiz, and you’ll know within about 10 minutes.
Now, some people may be experts in a domain that you’re not an expert in; or perhaps they’re highly skilled and don’t feel they need mentoring.
What these people tend to value is the Leadership Language of “Empowerment.” This means less guidance and more authority and power to act based on their own expertise.
If you’re too much of a mentor with these people, but they feel you’re actually holding them back… they may resent the fact that you get paid more than them, or resist your direction and input.
If you have a team like this, the good news is they will self-manage pretty naturally. But this doesn’t mean they’re always right about their own abilities, so you may still need to find ways of helping them see the value of your input.
Either way, when you don’t speak the unique Leadership Language of your people, you could be demotivating them… which tends to fall into the general category of “Not A Good Thing.”
When you use my quiz with your team to find out which Leadership Languages you prefer, and discover which ones your team need to experience, you’ll be much better equipped to resolve tensions... and create a happy, productive team that sticks around and actually gets things done the way you want them to.
