Part 3: Can you really trust your team?
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Reader, Welcome to part 3 of a multi-part series on developing agency in your team. [Agency = Knowing what to do So far, we’ve covered why agency matters and the power of developing a team where every person has it. Then, we talked about the speed of clarity and building rhythms that make agency possible. Since agency is all about building your team's capacity to make decisions... In this email, we're diving into why it’s so hard for many leaders to trust, and although their fears are often justified, they’re not often helpful. Two extremes that scare leaders. As a leader, you never want to see your team hesitating and second-guessing in challenging moments, thinking, “I don’t know what I should do.” In these moments of doubt, team members often:
You also never want to see your team running off in their own direction without communication or collaboration. In these moments of unjustified confidence, team members often:
When these dynamics are present, it becomes very difficult to trust someone with more freedom. Why? Because they demonstrate your team member isn’t aligned. How people get off track. Whether someone is hesitating, second-guessing, waiting… or charging off in their own direction and operating in a silo… It usually means something isn’t clear. For example, they don’t completely understand:
Or something isn’t working. For example, they’re:
But these are actually communication or developmental gaps... and they can be filled. Let’s look at three of the most common ones. The communication gap. The Fatal Assumption: I have all the information I need to make an aligned decision. The Missing Perspective: Information, variables, and relevance are constantly changing, so aligned decisions require effort to understand what’s new, what’s shifting, and what matters most right now. Filling the Gap requires developing your team members to:
The vantage point gap. The Fatal Assumption: What I see from where I stand is all there is to see. The Missing Perspective: Decisions must be considered from many vantage points, because different roles, departments, and stakeholders bring different priorities to the table. Filling the Gap requires developing your team members to recognize that their current role, experience, and skills come with limitations... And so does everyone else’s. We can't easily see what is visible and important where others stand, so collaboration is essential to good decision-making and great leadership. The future gap. The Fatal Assumption: This moment in time is what matters most. The Missing Perspective: Decisions must be considered with a future-oriented lens that looks ahead and considers more than just what’s urgent right now. Filling the Gap requires developing your team members to anticipate and look ahead 2, 3, 6, even 12 months down the road to see what will be important in the future, and consider it now. The best way to fill this gap is through future-oriented conversations where you think out loud with them about:
Letting go. Remember learning to ride a bike, or teaching a child to ride? It’s a dance. You tightly grasp the back of the seat and handlebars, running alongside as the child begins to pedal. Slowly, your grip loosens. The child finds their balance. And then... You let go. Almost always, there’s a crash. You coach them on what went wrong and encourage them to get back up and try again. And before long, they’re riding all over the neighborhood... wind in their hair, grinning with the joy of their newfound freedom. This is also how you develop the rising leaders on your team. The struggle to let go. The struggle to let go and trust team members with decisions is one of the most common issues I’ve heard CEOs, Founders, and execs lament over the years. No one reaches the top without experiencing it. But many get stuck in the in-between place: wanting and needing people to step up... but knowing they can’t, won’t, or don’t. It often comes down to fear, because poor decisions have a cost: Lost time fixing problems. Working late because now it’s urgent. Financial losses. Missed goals. And it's frustrating to bear the burden for someone else’s mistake, when they don't even understand the gravity of it. So next time... Do you let someone else make the decision when you’re already stretched thin? Not today. It’s easier to do it yourself and promise to develop your team later. What leadership requires. Do you really want a high-agency team where aligned decision-making, collaboration, engagement, and results happen at every level? Do you want to scale? If so, you have to let go. But this isn’t really a trust issue. It’s a development one. There will always be decisions you alone can make and many that require competency before freedom. Decide which decisions:
And which decisions:
Then choose just one rising leader and make a plan to develop that person into a trusted, aligned decision-maker this year. Up next. The real cost to silos. Enjoy! Sara Prefer to view the newsletter in our app? Scan the QR code to download it now. Like this content? Subscribe, read past posts, and share it here. Follow me on LinkedIn |