I recently had the privilege of joining Michael Kithcart on her podcast Champions of RISK, where we talked about building future-proof teams, helping businesses achieve their goals and growing leadership talent. It was a rich conversation that could have lasted hours, and I encourage you to take a listen over at Michael’s website, or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Read on for a few key takeaways from our conversation, as well as some insight on what I’m still thinking about weeks later.
There are now four generations in the workforce, and this requires an updated approach to leading teams.
Emotional intelligence is more important than ever for leaders. In order to support and drive a team spanning such a broad age range, leaders need to understand and empathize with the individualistic needs of their teams in a way they haven’t had to do before. People want to understand their “why” within a business. For leaders to articulate that properly, they must be deeply attuned to the broader “why” of their team, department, and the whole organization.
Many leaders are rushing the integration of new talent.
While a 30/60/90 approach is commonplace, it’s also common to see the plan abandoned after the first 30 days. While onboarding support and guidance in the first 30 days may be enough for someone to understand the tactics and structure of their role, it usually doesn’t allow people to fully understand the output, results, and impact of their work. In such a competitive talent market, this is a surefire way to endanger your hire and increase their likelihood of decision remorse and jumping ship for a better opportunity.
The biggest risk companies face is a fear to hire.
Companies that don’t feel confident that a role is defined or structured correctly can’t possibly feel confident about making a hire. This is one area where Fahren is uniquely suited to support growing organizations – working to identify the needs at an organization and team level and distilling that down into a well-situated position. Companies often miss when trying to hire a leader because it’s critical to evaluate a role based on an assessment of the team it is part of. Many organizations try to dust off the position description they used for the last hire, but that will only leave teams chasing growth rather than driving it.
There was also one topic Michael and I covered that has really stuck with me. She asked me about the best team I’ve been part of, and what made it so great. For me, it came down to the team having a clear vision, well-defined expectations, collaboration, and trust. But maybe most importantly, the team had a breakdown of fear. There was an understanding and acceptance that we didn’t know everything, and that committing to our own professional development meant not only acknowledging that fact, but seeking out the answers and resources to support ourselves.
