Leadership Secrets: Setting Up a Team for Long Term Success

 How Transferring Ownership Will Make You and Your Team Stronger

I've found that the ideal span of control is 5 to 8 direct reports. This allows you enough time to have at least one deep conversation once week with each member of your team.

Anything higher than this is hard for people to manage effectively when the stress rises and events go off plan.

High performing teams are those where there is trust going up, down and across the structure. This also means that as the leader, you need to be able to step back, let go and disappear.

Before that happens however, you need to set the stage.

Leadership is not about sitting on the sidelines and barking orders. Real leadership is action and getting your hands dirty.

Two things to always keep in mind:

1. Never ask your team to do anything that you wouldn't do
2. People aren't working for you, they are working with you

Your job as a leader is simple. You create the example, you provide the guidance. You support the team as they support you and each other executing to achieve the goal.

Set the example of what is needed for success and how to approach the problems that arise.

Here are approaches you can use to ensure that your team is ready to take charge when you empower them to tackle the task.

Explain the Why

Take the time when talking to the whole team or during one to one conversations to explain the reasons for the plan that is in front of them. Everybody does better at achieving a goal when they understand how their actions are contributing to the team's success.

Another benefit is that when they understand the intent of the plan, they are then better equipped to adapt and make changes based on what's happening in front of them in a moment.

Telling Ain't Training

As the leader, you always need to default to show. This can be as simple as modeling the behaviour that you expect in a meeting, to sitting down with someone to review a spreadsheet or proposal, or even leading from the front and asking for feedback.

Let It Go

Give you team the opportunity to work on the task or project themselves. It is important that they be given the opportunity to gain the experience. The growth that you had as a leader was built on the experiences you have had over your career. While not always easy, you need give up control and allow others to do the work if you want to establish a team that can provide long term success ... nothing should ever be built on the capability of one person.

It's a simple cycle to set up, it takes a lot of discipline to stick to it.

Once your team is engaged, you then need to continually assess and look for gaps, find where the misunderstanding or lack of knowledge is, then repeat the process again.