Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/727467
September/October 2016 37 The VC5G gas convection oven features removable, dishwasher-safe doors for easy cleaning. Plus, cutout grab-and-go oven racks, simple controls and the durability and performance you expect from Vulcan. Now there's no excuse for dirty doors. To learn more, visit vulcanequipment.com © 2016 Vulcan VC5G BEST PRACTICES in Team Building 5 Big Mistakes Managers Make When Developing Their People Let's be real. The biggest mistake managers make when developing their people is that they don't spend enough time doing it. Or, even worse, aren't spend- ing any time at all. The fact that you're reading this indicates that you care, and are trying. Even imperfect development beats what many employees are telling me they're getting–nada. The only way to achieve exponentially greater results is to get every member of your team functioning on more cylinders, as individuals and as a team. Good managers spend at least 10-20 percent of their time developing their people. Be sure you're investing your time well by avoiding these common traps. Below are five mistakes managers make when developing their people. Forget They're Still Learning, Too There's a weird imaginary threshold I see too many managers cross. They creep into "I've got this, and now my job is to teach it to you" land. Almost every manager goes there at some point in their career, and many get stuck in its delusional abyss. The only way to be an effective leader is to scurry back to reality as fast as you can. Leadership is never handled. I've learned the hard way, our teams see our flaws and mistakes better than we do. Even if they love you, there are at least 17 reasons they don't want to lead like you. Be sure the learning and listening is a two-way street. Invest Only in the "High Potentials" "I don't have time to develop everyone, so I'll really invest in the top 5 percent, maybe even 10 percent," is the cry I've heard many times. I'm all for giving extra effort, goodness knows I'm grateful for every ounce of extra effort folks poured into me as I climbed the ladder. BUT, imagine the possibilities when you tap into the majority of your team, building on everyone's strengths, and helping them to see themselves as more than "also-rans"? By Karin Hurt, CEO of Let's Grow Leaders letsgrowleaders.com Focus on Individual Development but Don't Develop the Team A team of super stars who don't know how to work as a team, can't win. The egos get in the way, and conflict sucks the life out of all productivity, and prohibits real creative breakthroughs that involve inte- grated thinking. I once worked for an executive who painstaking recruited the very best players in every discipline, and then got us in a room and announced his plan. Our bonuses (a large percentage of our salary, usually stack ranked) would all be exactly the same based on our performance in his experimental organization. He'd received permission from HR to try it. If we blew it out of the park, he'd get money added to the pool. If we sucked, he'd give it back. Either way, we'd all be paid the same percentage. We fought like brothers and sisters, but we figured it out. We nailed it. In fact, 20 years later, we're still amazing friends. Ignore their Unique Gifts and Strengths It's easy to develop leaders in our own image, but what if they see the world in an entirely different way? What if they never say a word? Go deeper. Get to know them. In every MBA class I teach, I'm blown away by the men and women who I worried about at the beginning. Go there. Underestimate their Capability to Grow Horizontally as well as Vertically Everyone wants to move up, and it's easy to focus on promoting your best and the brightest in your disci- pline. The truth is, people choose a path early on and it's often a crap shoot or overly influenced someone else's advice. Give people opportunities to draw on new skills, test them in wacky environments, and see how they grow. My career was built on doing things I knew nothing about. I bet there could be more of us out there if only given the chance. Developing your people is so important, be sure your work gets the return on investment you deserve.