Episode Summary:
In this episode of Mondays with Mike, Mike Staver addresses a common leadership question: how to balance providing guidance with allowing team members to solve problems independently. He emphasizes the importance of observing performance, evaluating its quality, and adjusting leadership style accordingly. Mike outlines a flexible, situational approach to coaching that focuses on offering guidance when needed and encouragement when performance improves.
Key Takeaways:
- Start with Observation: Before intervening, observe your team member’s performance on the task or goal at hand.
- Evaluate Performance: Determine whether their performance is satisfactory, below average, or above average. Tailor your response accordingly.
- Adjust Your Role as Needed: Act as a teacher or coach for those underperforming and shift to an encourager and resource provider as they improve.
- Avoid Misaligned Guidance: Don’t provide coaching where it’s unnecessary or cheerleading where guidance is crucial.
- Stay Flexible: Leadership strategies should adapt to the individual and the situation, not a fixed style.
Notable Quotes:
- “Success is really about adjusting what you do to help what they do.”
- “Observe first—that’s step number one. Observe their performance on the thing you want them to accomplish.”
- “If you’re just, ‘this is the way I lead,’ you’re gonna miss at least 50% of the opportunities to help your people be performers.”
- “The best approach is to be flexible in your strategy and align your guidance with their performance needs.”
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