David Dye's Blog, page 56

How to Improve Your Hybrid or Virtual Team Communication

The Best Hybrid and Virtual Teams Communicate About How they Communicate

As we shared in 6 habits of highly effective hybrid and virtual teams, the best hybrid and virtual teams have this in common– they work at it. They don’t take their virtual team communication for granted. It’s an ongoing, proactive conversation about expectations, what’s working well, and what’s not.

And, they talk through any frustrations before they’ve had too much time to simmer. 

Because even well-intentioned, high-urgency, human-centered teammates can have widely varied opinions about what successful team communication looks like.

Perhaps you can identify with a disconnect like this:

“If they knew this was important, why didn’t they send me an email with IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED in the header?”“Why would they let this sit in an email, and not just Slack message me? I always respond immediately on Slack.”“I turn off my Slack notifications when I’m doing deep work. They should know that if something is really important, they should send me a text.”“Ugh. This was important. Why didn’t they just pick up the phone? How hard is that?”“This is ridiculous. This was an in-office day. And, I’m IN THE OFFICE. If this was that important, why wouldn’t they just come by my cube?”“I get that this is important, but I’m working from halfway around the world. I was asleep when the email came and by the time I could contribute my input, the decision had already been made.”

Everyone AGREES this was a highly urgent conversation. And yet, there’s a whole lot of frustration going on about why THEY communicated it THAT WAY.

Establishing Norms and Expectations Around Virtual Team Communication

The idea is to use this tool to support a conversation about how you agree to communicate during different circumstances. And then, translate that into agreed team communication norms.

Let’s Grow Leaders Communication MatrixCONCEPT

Your team is bombarded with communication coming at them 24/7, so it’s easy to miss important messages. And, not every message is of equal importance. Some communication requires a deeper emotional investment and a more nuanced conversation. And sometimes, speed trumps everything. This tool helps you plan the best method of communication for the content, time, sensitivity, and importance of your message.

WHY this tool works:

Different types of communication require different methods. Using the most effective method ensures the most efficient communication. Investing a little bit of time upfront, establishing norms and parameters for what kinds of communication happens best where can save a lot of time and “Why didn’t you?” frustrations later on.

RESULTS

Targeted communication saves time, achieves faster results, and reduces frustration. Particularly for hybrid and virtual teams working on projects across time zones, taking some time upfront to establish clear team communication norms, helps people know exactly what to expect and where to find the information they need.

RELATIONSHIPS

Having the more challenging or emotional conversations in person (or over video) helps to minimize misinterpretation and builds trust. Respecting people’s time when communicating less urgent or lower-stakes information also makes people feel valued.

WHEN to use it:

This tool works well in conjunction with the tteam communication checklist when establishing team norms. As a leader, it’s helpful for you as you are preparing your team communication and 5×5 communication strategy.

click the virtual team communication matrix image to download a PDF of the matrix to use with your team

HOW to use the tool

An easy way to start the conversation is to provide the tool to each member of your team and give them time to reflect on what kinds of communication work best for various kinds of topics, discussions, or information, with a focus on whether you’re in a synchronous or asynchronous environment.

For example, your team may decide that if we’re working at the same time in the same location and there’s an important decision to be made quickly, we’re going to pull up for a quick team huddle.

You may agree, in that scenario, you’re not going to spend a lot of time on email threads or Slack channels. You’re going to get together, make the decision, and follow up with an email summary.

Or, you may agree that even if you are all in the office, you’re not going to interrupt one another with less urgent matters. Those will be handled via your Slack channel.

This conversation is particularly critical for virtual team communication across time zones.

If your team is in different locations at different times, and you have an important decision to make, you may agree that all the information will be communicated in a Slack thread so that everyone can weigh in and share their views during a 24 hour period, before making the final decision (for more about “who owns the decision” see our Manager’s Guide to Better Decision Making.)

This tool is just the start to get the conversation going about communication preferences, what’s working, and opportunities for streamlining communication and making it more accessible. From there, you can create norms for your hybrid and virtual team communication as you continue your growth as a high-performing hybrid or virtual team.

See Also: 5 Communication Mistakes Screwing Up Teamwork

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How to Have a Better Relationship with Your Manager (with Video)

If you’re looking to have a better relationship with your manager, start here.

“Hi Karin, I’ve been applying a lot of the tools and techniques I’ve learned in your leadership development program, and I’m getting some nice momentum. And, now I’m wondering do you think any of these techniques could work in building a better relationship with my boss? #Askingforafriend

6 Ways to Build a Better Relationship with Your Manager

The short answer is yes, yes, yes! If you want to build a better relationship with your manager, all these tools will help in one way or another. But, let’s start here.

Get to know your manager as a human being.Align your work with their MIT (Most Important Thing).Reflect to connect.Consider the competence-confidence model.Invite them to share their ideas.Take accountability for your mistakes.

Your turn. What are your best practices for developing a better relationship with your manager?

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Appreciative Inquiry with Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres

Conversations are the soul of leadership. We all know that conversations influence us, but we rarely stop to think about how much impact they have on our well-being and our ability to thrive. The Art of Appreciative Inquiry gives you the ability to have conversations that truly matter, build better relationships, and achieve more together.

In this episode, Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres give you two practices and five principles to create great conversations. And show how Appreciative Inquiry (AI)—one of the most widely used approaches for fostering positive change for individuals, groups, organizations, and communities—can help you communicate better and flourish in all areas of your life.

 

Appreciative Inquiry: Conversations Worth Having

02:32
What kind of conversations are worth having, and how to use appreciative inquiry to fuel productive and meaningful engagements.

03:12
Jackie and Cheri take us back to their earliest memory as a leader.

09:03
The two-axis process with four different kinds of conversations that we might find ourselves in.

14:11
What does it mean to be above or below the line? How can we be very intentional about where you are yourself?

17:53
What the heck is a generative question and how do these questions create shared understanding?

23:37
How to boil down positive framing to move towards what we want instead of either trying to fix what we don’t want or move away from what we don’t want.

36:16
Questions that I might start with to practice appreciative inquiry myself, and that will help me approach other people, my team relationships in an appreciative mindset.

40:12
Why appreciative inquiry is not about being positive all the time and is about adding value.

43:53
In instances of polarization, how can AI help us?

 

Connect with Jackie LinkedInTwitterInstagramConnect with Cheri LinkedInTwitterInstagramGet the Book

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Presenting to Executives: How to Have More Confidence

When presenting to executives, don’t forget what makes you an expert.

You’ve been working hard, and the project is totally on track. And now, the executive team wants an update. It’s natural to feel nervous. But, if you stumble through the presentation, you’ll likely end up with a pile of action items just to prove the project is in good hands. Follow these tips to have more confidence when presenting to executives.

“Why do these executives have to be so intimidating?” #AskingForaFriend

Karin, the last time I found myself presenting to executives they made me so nervous. Lisa flipped straight to the back of the deck we had spent a week preparing. Juan asked if I had involved his team in any of these recommendations (I had not, my miss). And Mark started with a few questions that I just couldn’t answer. Then, I got so nervous, I couldn’t answer even the basic questions, which made me look stupid. I don’t blame them for being frustrated, but they sure are intimidating. How do I get better at this?  The next time I’m presenting to executives, how do I show up with more confidence? #AskingforaFriend

Depending on your organizational culture, presenting to executives can feel like skinny dipping in shark-infested waters. I spent many years in a scene like that.

The best way I’ve found to stay confident and maintain my executive presence during such inquisitions is to focus on my team, the outcomes we need, why this work matters, and the support we need.

Depersonalize the conversation. Remember, this is not about you. It’s about the work. Your customers. Your team. Sure, you care about your career and the conversation in the next talent review, but when presenting to executives, the best way to showcase your leadership is extraordinary execution.

And then, give the executive team the benefit of the doubt. They’re passionate, tough, and asking great (albeit possibly intimidating) questions because they care deeply about the outcomes, just like you. It’s unlikely they woke up this morning trying to figure out how to scare you and make your life more difficult.

7 Ways to Gain More Confidence When Presenting to Executives

To have more confidence in your next executive presentation, start here.

1. Draw confidence from your expertise.

I’ve always wrestled with the term “fake it till you make it,” because there’s a difference between faking expertise and confidence. If you’re being invited into this particular conversation, someone thinks you’re the expert. Start by drawing confidence from that.

If you’re wrestling with imposter syndrome, you can even take five minutes to brainstorm your “Why I’m the most qualified to talk about this” list.

And, if you’re being asked to represent your team of experts, reframe your brainstorm to “Why my team is qualified to talk about this,” and be sure to do your homework to represent your team well and give them credit and advocate for their needs.

2. Plan your opening.

When presenting to executives, what you say in the first thirty seconds matters. Sure you’ll want to thank them for their time and your team’s contributions, but not first. First, tell them why they should listen.

Why are you here?

To share results and put their minds at ease that the project is on track?Or, to make a case for vital resources?To pitch a new idea?

Start with WHY it’s so important that they listen to you.

Chances are, by the time they’re listening to you, they’ve already been wrestling with some really important topics and trying to weigh some heavy decisions. Assume their brain is already on overload. What can you say in the first thirty seconds that will get them to want to focus on what you have to say next?

3. Write down your most important points.

When presenting to executives, I always encourage leaders to write down their three most important points. In the swirl of conversation, it’s easy to forget what you most wanted to say.

Writing down your main ideas can also help you draw the conversation back if it starts to go sideways.

4. Ask yourself all the important questions in advance.

One of the best ways to gain confidence in presenting to executives is to be prepared for any question that comes up.

Ask yourself this question about everyone you anticipate in that meeting, “If I were __________ (insert tough executive’s name here) what would I want to know about this project?”

Another side effect of regularly asking yourself (and your team) this question is that you’ll develop your own (and your team’s) critical thinking skills.

You can even bring up some of these questions before they ask. “If I were you, I might be wondering …” And then, answer the question. You’ll gain credibility as the executives think, “Yeah, that’s EXACTLY what I was wondering. Thank you.”

5. Stakeholder controversial issues in advance.

Another way to feel more confident presenting to executives is to know you have friendly supporters in the room. You can do this in several ways. If you have access, you can do a few pre-meetings with key decision-makers before the executive presentation. If not, it can work just as well to check with their direct reports.

“I’ve already met with your team on this topic, and here’s what they thought is important for me to include.”

6. Create a leave-behind.

If your topic is complex, you probably have a fancy Powerpoint deck with great data and a solid argument. You can find tips for better executive Powerpoint presentations here. 

And, it’s possible someone is going to ask you to “skip to the end,” or just “net this out for us.” Or, the hour you thought you had to present may be cut to ten minutes.

Creating a one-page leave behind helps you to streamline the most important points, and helps you to prepare for the short-cut presentation as needed. And, of course, it also serves as a useful resource if the executives need to go back and share this information with their teams.

7. Know your ask.

Interestingly, the question many managers find the most difficult when presenting to executives is, “What do you need from us?” Be prepared to share your ask. And if it’s truly just an update, you could say, “Actually at this point, I don’t have an ask, but if you could drop a quick note to _____ thanking them for their work on this, that would go a long way.”

Remember, you’re in the room for a reason. Start with confidence in your own expertise and the work you’ve done and then work to anticipate the conversation and streamline your response.

Your turn. What are your best practices when presenting to executives?

See also: How Do I Show Up with More Confidence (an interview with Hilary Blair)

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Diversity Hiring Best Practices: Video with Arthur Woods

Don’t Miss This Important Opportunity for Diversity Hiring

I’m having to do so much hiring because of the great resignation. I don’t want to miss the opportunity to do it right. What are some diversity hiring best practices? #AskingforaFriend? 

Diversity hiring goes beyond checking boxes and percentages. It means looking at processes, language, and consideration of people of all kinds of varied backgrounds.

Arthur Woods, Author of Hiring for Diversity: The Guide to Building an Inclusive and Equitable Organization, joins this episode of “Asking for a Friend” with practical tips for diversity hiring.

Diversity Hiring Best Practices (Conversation Highlights)

1:42 Why diversity hiring is so important to Arthur. As a gay man, he’s experienced working in both inclusive and non-inclusive organizations. He knows the importance of psychological safety,

4:01 Set Hiring for Diversity Goals

76% of employers have not yet set diversity goals. Without goals, it’s hard to make progress.

5:05 Re-focusing your metrics.

In order to take your diversity hiring to the next level, consider your metrics. Think beyond percentages.  Instead, introduce two other metrics: process and inclusion goals.

7:20 Examine your company’s online presence to help with your diversity hiring.

Understand the mindset of your job seekers.  And, consider how your job postings come across to them. The stock photos and compliance statements can feel fake. Instead, tell a story of why diversity truly matters to your organization.

12:15 Carefully review job descriptions.

Want an easy place to start, consider your job descriptions. It’s easy to go on auto-pilot, pulling up templates, and making minor adjustments. Instead, think about essential elements of the role that may allow you to consider people of unconventional backgrounds. Remove gender-coded terms (i.e. aggressive).

Neutralize exclusionary terms, buzzwords, and acronyms that job-seekers won’t understand.

And, minimize subjectivity and vague language.

17:19 Apply these additional tips and observations.16% fewer women apply on LinkedInMake sure the qualifications in the job descriptions don’t feel out of reach.Reframe how you require experience. Asking for 3-5 years of experience can deter those on the lower end of the range. Instead, say 3+ years.Communicate the salary range.21:10 Improve your ability to retain talent.

Look beyond the hiring process. Set employees up for success from the point of onboarding. Many new employees don’t receive mentoring and guidance in their first three months.

22:40 Broaden your perspective on sourcing.

Organizations may feel, “I am representing my community” if their community is not very diverse. But go back to determining what diversity means. It’s not just about gender and race. It includes refugees and immigrants, older and younger, working parents, those with a disability, etc.

27:06 Eliminate interview bias.

Interviews are the main-stage event of the process. Focus on structure and consistency.

To be more inclusive in your interview process, reserve 10 minutes before the interview to be mindful and intentional about what you will ask.

Also, be careful with the personal chit-chat that can lead you to connect more with a candidate because of a common background or shared experiences. Yes, it can make one candidate feel connected. But, it can also lead you to an unfair bias.

29:17 Remember, leaders drive the change for diversity.

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Transforming Fear with Gaurav Bhatnagar and Mark Minukas

Most of us have seen fear drive short-term results, but it does so at the cost of high employee burnout and turnover. Winning organizations know how to reframe fear into opportunities for learning and growth. They create resilient cultures of unfear.

In this episode, Gaurav and Mark, authors of Unfear, give you the rundown about the impact and archetypes of fear in the workplace and provide strategies, techniques, and actions you need to bring about an unfear transformation.

Unfear

05:43 – The problem of fear in organizations and leadership

06:10 – Consequences when you operate from a reactive place

09:27 – Why fear works in the short term

17:23 – This emotion is neither a good thing or a bad thing. It’s just part of the human experience. And it’s really about shifting the stories and the narratives.

19:24 – How do you actually create the space for observation rather than just collapsing into the emotion?

30:55 – Why, in many companies, the organization is there to serve the hierarchy as opposed to the hierarchy in the organization being there to serve the people, the customer, and the goal.

41:07 – What can we do first? The first step always is awareness. Becoming more aware without blame and judgment of yourself, just more aware of how you are showing up as a leader.

42:32 – This journey and relationship with yourself and fear is a critical part of becoming a truly human-centered leader.

Connect with Gaurav and Mark

Gaurav LinkedIn

Gaurav Twitter

Mark LinkedIn

Mark Twitter

Get the Book and Move Through Fear

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Leading Other Leaders to Solve Problems

Take the initiative with confidence and humility to lead other leaders

This question came in from a member of the Let’s Grow Leaders community and it’s such a fantastic opportunity to lead that we wanted to share it with you. The question is about leading other leaders without excess drama.

Here’s how Maria describes the situation: “We work in a 24 x 7 environment with multiple shifts. Each shift has responsibilities to clean, restock, and prepare our workspace for the next shift. Sometimes, my team will find something isn’t done quite right. No big deal. But it often happens that we show up to a situation that causes real problems in our ability to do our job. I want to bring it up in our leaders’ meeting, but I worry about creating nitpicking or shift vs shift dynamics. Do you have any suggestions?”

Maria’s challenge is common. Leaders at a peer level experience challenges with one another’s work product and it affects their work. Perhaps your manager can’t or won’t address it right now. This is one of those challenges that creates a fantastic opportunity to lead. Specifically, you have a chance to lead other leaders and build a collaborative culture.

Leading Other Leaders Starts with Confident Humility

Before the conversation, take time to center yourself in confidence and humility. You see a genuine issue. You didn’t imagine the negative effects on your team.

It takes confidence to bring it up with the other leaders–to share a vision of what’s possible or address a breach of understanding. Temper that confidence with the humility that you don’t the other leaders’ realities. Come to the conversation with a genuine curiosity and hope for what’s possible.

Assume Good Intent

Another mindset shift that can make these conversations collaborative and help you to lead other leaders is to assume other people want to do a good job. It’s unlikely that another leader woke up that morning thinking about how they could make life difficult for your team. They’re struggling through and trying to make it work.

This isn’t a conversation about blaming others for problems. It’s a chance to look forward together. Starting with confidence and humility while assuming good intent will help avoid nitpicking or antagonism. There’s nothing to pick at…just an opportunity for us all to help one another succeed.

Tap Into a Shared Understanding of What Success Looks Like

Where you start the conversation depends on what standards, agreements, or expectations already exist. If there is a defined process and one leader isn’t following it, you might talk with them directly and have an INSPIRE conversation. (Check here for more on how to hold an effective INSPIRE conversation to address performance challenges or misaligned expectations.)

For example: “I want to make sure that we are setting one another up for success. Three times over the past ten days we’ve come in and here’s what we’ve found. I know our expectation is that we’re doing X. Here’s the impact on our team. I’m wondering how it looks from your perspective?”

And then, “Is your team experiencing anything similar from our team? What do you think we can do to ensure we’re putting one another in the best position to succeed?”

When you have these INSPIRE conversations, the more detailed S-Support you can bring the conversation, the better. Photos and specifics about the impact on your team’s work can help.

Finally, make sure you don’t put it all on their shoulders. You might ask, “What can I do to help? I want to make sure my team’s setting you up similarly. Are there any opportunities you see?”

Leading Other Leaders When There Is No Shared Understanding

However, when there is no agreement or expectation for how things should work, you have an opportunity to create a shared understanding. Start these conversations with shared realities.

For example, “I’ve noticed that my team spends forty-five minutes doing X with a consequence of Y. I’m curious what you’re experiencing?”

As the conversation proceeds, you can suggest a solution. “What if we were to agree to always set one another up for success by doing these three things? If would take our teams 15 minutes but save everyone a ton of time.”

Escalate When Necessary

Sometimes you’ll discover that your peer doesn’t have the same understanding you do. They might say something like “That checklist is a suggestion if we have time, not a commitment we have to do every day. When things get busy, I’d rather my people focus on taking care of our clients.”

In these situations, it’s appropriate to invite them to talk together with your manager. You have different views of what your manager expects and need to resolve that difference.

For example, “Got it–sounds like we understand the expectations differently. Let’s go talk with our manager and sort it out.”

They may not choose to go with you, but you’ve given them respect by inviting them. You’re not going behind their back or complaining about a peer. You had a direct and transparent conversation. You’ve approached the scenario with confidence and humility, focused on relationships and the results you need to achieve.

Your Turn

It’s easy to be frustrated when a colleague’s team isn’t performing at the level you expect. But it’s also an opportunity for you to build a shared understanding, influence your peers, and create collaboration.

We’d love to hear from you: what’s one of the most powerful ways you’ve seen someone (or maybe you did it) leading other leaders to address performance issues.

You Might Also Like:How Leaders Make The Most of ComplaintsThe A.R.T. of Advanced Accountability (Video)Building a Cultural OasisLeading Friends and Former Peers9 Mistakes That Sabotage Collaboration and Destroy Trust

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Improve Your Customer Service Experience (TV Video Interview with Shep Hyken)

If you want to improve your Customer Service Experience (CX), Start with Culture

This week, we interrupt our regularly scheduled “Asking for a Friend Series” to feature this important interview with Shep Hyken on Be Amazing or Go Home, TV,  about how to improve your customer service experience through culture.

What’s the best way to improve your customer service experience?

Imagine you have every employee coming to work every day asking “how can we make this better?”  “How can we truly advocate for our customers?” “What is the best way to do this?”

That’s the power of a courageous culture. 

Our favorite definition of culture comes from Seth Godin, which is simply “people like us do things like this.”

In a courageous culture, “people like us” speak up. They solve problems. They share ideas. And bring practical ideas to improve the customer service experience. The default is to contribute.

So how do you do this?

Practical Ways to Improve Your Customer Service Experience Through Culture

7 Steps to Building a Courageous Culture

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Make It, Don’t Fake It with Sabrina Horn

It’s a cliche you’ve undoubtedly heard more than once: Fake it until you make it. The problem is that the pressure to succeed can drive leaders to exaggerate their strengths, minimize weaknesses, bend the truth, and sacrifice the very authenticity that would help them succeed. In this episode, former Silicon Valley communications CEO Sabrina Horn gives you the tools to lead with integrity, navigate the challenges that compromise authenticity, and transform your influence by leading from the truth.

Make It, Don’t Fake It

2:30 – A nerve-wracking example of trying to fake it that decidedly did not result in a make it ending.

6:50 – When “fake it until you make it” is legitimate and helpful advice.

10:48 – The one criterion you can use to know when you’ve crossed into unhealthy and destructive faking it.

11:40 – The Make It Happen Box and how to use it to manage overwhelm and multiple leadership pressures.

16:21 – Different kinds of lies and integrity compromises that can compromise leaders’ authenticity, influence, and results.

17:17 – The benefit in facing facts and getting the truth out there rather than engaging in “spin.”

19:06 – Why leaders embrace problems

20:39 – Nobody is perfect and how to find the values and take responsibility for your leadership.

24:03 – Why Sabrina has so much passion for leading with integrity.

31:07 – How effective leaders can use PR for their organization, brand, or team from a place of integrity. How to find the truth that people need to know. What is uniquely yours?

33:57 – Why honesty is a great marketing strategy.

36:58 – Advice for women (and men) in confronting gender discrimination and bias.

38:54 – Three steps you can take now to reestablish your integrity and build a foundation of authenticity for your influence.

41:49 – Why great leaders don’t have all the answers, and what they do instead to make it, not fake it.

Connect with Sabrina

Website

LinkedIn

Get Sabrina’s Book

 

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When Things Get Crazy, Look for Ways To Empower Your Team

Want to empower your team? Find opportunities in the chaos.

During times of uncertainty and change, it’s easy for your team to get lost in the chaotic swirl of indecision —to wring their hands and wait and see. It’s also the perfect time to empower your team, to step up and take the lead.

“Where there is chaos, seize control.”

One of my early bosses and mentors, Gail, said this to me almost daily during a turbulent time at Verizon. Gail was a world-class role model of how to empower your team.

I was young and newly promoted in an HR role in the midst of a big merger. We were reorganizing every department.  Everyone had a new boss and a new team. Many senior leaders were in the midst of relocating their families to Manhattan which added to the distraction.

We were merging systems, policies, programs—you name it.

Every time I would walk through her open door with an idea, she would say the same thing: “Where there is chaos ____________ (and she would smile, wait for me to fill in the blank with the words “seize control”, and then eagerly listen to what I had to say.)

“Seizing control” had nothing to do with power or politics. It was all about learning to lead courageously when others were not, and to do the right thing for the business.

Gail knew we knew that.

If you want to empower your team in this way, be sure they know that too.

Empower Your Team With Probing Questions

What Gail would do next made all the difference too.

When I questioned the political ramifications of not getting the right buy-in she would offer these questions:

“Do we need this?”“Is it a sound business decision?”“Do you have a strong implementation plan?”“Is your team behind it?”“Has anyone told you not to do it?”

Then she would say, “Karin by the time everyone figures out that we need to do this, your team will already be doing it, and have great results. You’ll have best practices we can scale elsewhere. Just be sure you execute well and tell me before you break any big rules. I promise to have your back.”

If you want to empower your team, it starts by having their backs.

Tips for Encouraging Empowerment on Your Team

Now that I grow leaders for a living, I’ve often thought about Gail and her approach to empowerment and why it worked so well. Here are a few tips that can help.

1. Create real clarity about what matters most and why.

Although politics, people, and policies were in flux, we knew unequivocally what mattered most for our roles.

Getting the right people in the right seats.

Re-recruiting our top talent.

And, showing up as true strategic partners to ensure the business was thriving.

If what we wanted to do contributed to one of those priorities, we knew we had a green light.

2. Articulate parameters and boundaries for decision-making.

When you’re working to empower your team, be sure your team knows what kinds of decisions you expect them to make and which are out of bounds. (Our free strategic empowerment tool makes this easy). For example, Gail was clear about which decisions we needed to include our finance partners and which did not. And, also the kinds of decisions that might add to the chaos.

3. Encourage your team to challenge and empower one another.

Empowerment can feel scary. It’s easier to wait for permission so there’s someone else to blame as things go wrong. Gail made it crystal clear that this is the way we do things around here. So, she would say things like, “Go ask Lisa (my peer) what I’m going to say about this idea.” And of course, she knew Lisa would smile and say, “Where there is chaos seize control.” And then, ask me the questions Gail would.

When Gail retired, I took over a good portion of her role. That was one of the easiest leadership transitions I’ve ever made, because the team already was empowered to “seize control” as needed, and I could focus on the more strategic elements of the role.

4. Help your team fail forward.

As you can imagine, when you truly empower your team, sometimes they’re going to really screw it up. I know I did. What happens next matters more than just about anything else if you want your team to stay empowered in the future.

Another of Gail’s favorite phrases, was, “Well, we certainly learned something from this one, right? The good news is you’ll never do THAT again, will you?” All said with a friendly smile.

5. Celebrate the empowered behaviors, not just the outcomes.

Although it was over two decades ago, I clearly remember Gail’s staff meetings where she would call us out, “Karin tell them what you did … and exactly how you did it.” Sometimes, she would laugh and say, “I’m not sure it’s going to work, but it’s one heck of a plan.”

You get more of what you encourage and celebrate and less of what you ignore. If you want to empower your team, call out the empowered behaviors you want to see more.

Your turn.

Have you ever worked for an empowering leader like Gail? What are your best practices to empower your team?

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