A snowplough and a crowbar… while it may sound like the start of a riddle it isn’t. It’s my answer to how my team can leverage me as their leader.
This came up in dialogue in our house as my husband Peter recently took on a new position. We were chatting about onboarding and orientating his team to the expectations he has for himself and them.
I shared with him that my team knows how they can leverage me as their leader. Conceptually, my job (for them) is to clear the road so they can drive fast and safely, and anytime they reach a hurdle they can leverage me to pry things open.
Something I said resonated and he asked for more tidbits. Here are four things your team must know about you as their leader.
1. How you like to be communicated with | help your team know what you prefer in one-on-ones, status updates, emails, texts etc. Be clear on what they need to escalate or cc you on or when to bring you into their work.
2. Your strongly held beliefs, philosophies and expectation you have | what principles and beliefs do you have that govern your leadership, decisions and your expectations of work quality, speed and cost.
3. What you’re not great at | get over yourself - rather than cover your weaknesses, be clear on what you’re not good at so your team can support you.
4. How to leverage you | what is your commitment to your team on how they can they “use” you.
Does your team know how to best work with and leverage you as their leader?
As always, let me know what resonated and created value for you on the points above.