I went on vacation for a week and a half. My team didn’t need me while I was away. What does this mean?
It means that I’m very proud of my team and that they and I together have built a collaborative, resourceful, and self-sufficient team environment.
Does this mean that they never need me? Of course not.
Effective leaders believe that a collaborative, resourceful, and self-sufficient team means that they have hired and trained the team well, as well as created a safe environment for team members to try new things, fail, and succeed. As a leader, my job is to build knowledge and confidence in my team members so that each individual has the tools that they need to succeed. It is to teach them how to do their jobs effectively and help them to continually grow professionally. As a leader, my job is not to manage their daily tasks. Warren Buffet summed this up in a 2021 interview with Inc. Magazine when he said that the most important trait of the best managers is to “hire well, manage little.”
Building a collaborative, resourceful, and self-sufficient team does not happen overnight. It takes a lot of time and work but results in exceptional results and more flexibility once you’ve achieved it.
Here are five key steps to building a collaborative, resourceful, and self-sufficient team:
Take care of each person on your team from day one. Have you ever joined a company and felt like you were on an island left to find your way only a month into the role? That’s exactly the opposite of how each individual on your team should feel. When a new person starts on your team, be prepared to spend considerable time with them to train and retrain them for the first few months. Pay attention to the things that drive them and their learning process and patterns so that you can adapt your communication and teaching style to each individual. It is also important to be transparent, communicate expectations, and share your experiences about your professional growth path with each team member. By providing someone with a strong foundation of training and clear expectations, you are building their confidence and enabling them to succeed.
Create and maintain a psychologically safe environment. Individuals are more inclined to take action and try new things when they do not fear shame or punishment. Encouraging individuals on the team to learn new and try new things not only expands their knowledge but grows their confidence and makes them feel valued and respected. In addition, growing leaders on the team and placing trust in them set an example of collaboration and trust with the rest of the team.
Create community and encourage relationships across the organization. As the team’s leader, individuals on the team naturally lean on you for support, advice, and answers. However, you’re not their only resource, and it is to your advantage to teach them this! By coaching your team about who else they can go to across the organization for advice and answers on various topics, they will become more resourceful and collaborative.
Go back to the basics. Everything in every company is built on a foundation. What is the foundational knowledge needed for success in your company? What are the building blocks? Oftentimes when a team member has a skill or knowledge gap, going back to review the basics can help. This step also requires psychological safety within the team. All team members must feel that it is a safe environment to ask for help whenever needed. Reviewing information as needed with team members and helping them bridge their skills and knowledge gaps regularly not only creates an environment of ongoing learning, but it also builds a team with a solid knowledge of the fundamentals of your business.
Show appreciation regularly and highlight each person’s strengths. In The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey stated, “Next to physical survival, the greatest need of a human being is psychological survival, to be understood, to be affirmed, to be validated, to be appreciated.” It is a natural human desire and need to have one’s hard work acknowledged, so it is natural that appreciation is a motivating driver for many individuals. I’ve found that genuinely letting people know that you appreciate them not only motivates most people, but also improves communication. Beyond appreciation, everyone brings different strengths to the team and it is important for individuals to feel like they do not need to be expert-level in everything. When team members know that their combined skills as individuals will make them stronger as a team, they will feel confident leaning on each other and solving problems together.
The final result of months of working with your team on the five items above? As a leader, you will get to focus your time on being able to strategically build the business instead of focusing on managing day to day tasks. And, even better, you will get to go on vacation and trust that your collaborative, resourceful, and self-sufficient team won’t even need you while you take some much needed time to recharge.
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