“You are one of the worst leaders that I’ve worked for.” Imagine my surprise at hearing those words upon walking into the break room. Yet, once I listen to this person’s concerns, I had to agree. Well, I didn’t think I was one of the worst leaders, but I certainly had been making some mistakes.
She believed that she should have been promoted long ago. “Good leaders advocate for their people, you don’t back me up at all.” – It was my fault that she hadn’t been promoted. What I could not tell her (or at least what I didn’t feel was appropriate to tell her at that moment) was that just two weeks before I was advocating for her. I wasn’t advocating for her promotion though. I was trying to convince my boss and the rest of the leadership team that we should give her one more chance and not fire her.
I wasn’t being a good leader. How could there be such a mismatch between how other people saw her and how she saw herself? The answer was simple, I was sending her the wrong messages.
I wasn’t falsely praising her or telling her that she was next in line for a promotion. It was much more subtle – something that I see many leaders do. I didn’t differentiate the way that I interacted with her. In fact, I took pride in the fact that I treated everyone on my team the same. That’s a mistake, not everyone on your team is the same and treating them that way is what is unfair.
People who perform at different levels require different types of interactions with their leaders. This isn’t just about telling them their level of performance. In fact, directly labeling someone as a high, average, or low performer does more to hurt than help their performance. I’ve found that thinking through the following seven types of interactions will help you differentiate the way you work with people at all levels:
- What is your goal for developing this person?
- What do you talk about?
- What do you hold them accountable for?
- What types of opportunities do you provide them?
- What type of training/information do you provide?
- What type of feedback should you provide?
- What should you recognize and highlight?
Good leaders don’t treat everyone the same. They recognize that each person has a different set of needs based on their ability and performance. Good leaders adapt to those needs and meet people where they are at.
Great Post, Brad. I run into this with our team, which involves student workers of varying abilities and tenure. My opinion on your subordinate’s post seems to run with the current thinking that “all people are equal, with equal abilities, and should be treated as such”, yet we know that not to be true – in sports, in education, and in the workplace. Having stated that, giving them all the opportunity to aspire to a higher level is important, but eventually results and metrics will stratify everyone. Thanks for posting that table, I’m going to print that up and put it up on my board….
Hey Chris,
Thanks for your comment. You pointed out something very important. A good leader should give everyone the opportunity to aspire to a higher level. What I am trying to do with the table is create a framework for helping people do that.
For example, it doesn’t make sense to talk about future positions and opoprtunities with someone who can’t even do their current job. The first step is to help them succeed at what they are supposed to be doing, then you can help them stretch.