The secret to being a better leader is to catch your people doing something great.
Catching your people doing something great will engage and motivate your team. Leaders focus on what they can fix. Being told you are doing something wrong is generally not motivating.
Critical feedback is important.
But, leaders should be spending just as much time on what great behaviours their people already have and how they can be reinforced. If you want to develop as a leader, spotting the good behaviours and reinforcing them with immediate feedback will be a key driver of your success.
One minute manager is our favourite leadership textbook
The one minute manager parable is a great business book that simplifies a key challenge for leader – how to get their people engaged and motivated.
The easiest way to do that is to catch your people doing something great.
All too often leaders forget to tell their people well done.
“Unfortunately, most leaders tend to focus on the things that are being done wrong so they can fix them.”
Secret to being a better leader: Catch your people doing something great
As a leader you may believe you are already doing this. Often, we think we’re doing it when we’re really not doing it in any noticeable way with our team.
Even if you are saying well done, could you do it more and could you be more specific in your feedback?
How do I give them the positive feedback?
Tell them immediately that what they did was great and what they did that made it great.
It’s that simple.
This positive reinforcement will drive engagement in your team and reinforce the key behaviours you want reinforcing.
“Sharon, that was fantastic. You didn’t react to the feedback Nigel delivered in that meeting, you patiently listened to what he had to say, and replayed what he had said to make sure you understood. By understanding his query you were able to show him that we are actually already covering that. It was a great display of empathy and really listening to our internal customers without being a walk over. I was really impressed.”
The feedback is specific, timely and you explain the benefit of what they just did.
One minute manager refresh
Here’s a short article from the author Ken Blanchard on catching your people doing something great.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/catch-people-doing-something-right-ken-blanchard
Development doesn’t need to be complicated
Most of your growth as a professional will take place on the job. my career habit’s approach is targeted learning in 10 minute chunks for you to apply in your role. The secret to being a better leader is to keep your development progressing. Your progress will compound on each step forward.
Be a better leader by catching your people doing something great. The positive reinforcement will help to focus your team on what matters. It will also develop your ability to deliver timely and specific feedback. It’s a simple step you can easily develop on the job.