Are you tired of carrying the weight of your team? Here’s how to empower them to step up.

A common dilemma I’ve heard from leaders is – “My team is not stepping up. My plate is full. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝑰 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑-𝒖𝒑?”

I recommend for you start observing and assessing if you fall into these patterns.

𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 #𝟏: “𝐇𝐮𝐛 & 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞” – 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮

Most of the time this happens when you become the hub and your team members are the spoke. All communication lines go through you. Only for you to relay it back to the relevant team member or stakeholder.

Next time a team member asks you to engage a stakeholder or talk to another team member, try to sit on your hands. Encourage your team members to engage with each other directly.

If necessary, introduce the team to your stakeholder. Get an agreement that any of your team members can represent moving forward.

𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 #𝟐: “𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐚𝐬-𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨” – 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲

Take an audit on the decisions that are being made in the team. If the majority of them are coming from you… observe if your team members are always vying for your attention to get approvals. Even on the smallest of things!

Try identifying the common tasks in the team and agree on which ones you can delegate authority on. One exercise I’d recommend is Jurgen Appelo’s Management 3.0 Delegation Poker.

𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 #𝟑: “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐫” – 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭

Do you have tasks that you have been doing for more than 2 years? When things go pear-shaped, no one else in the team knows what to do. Even though it has become easy for you, it can still be inconvenient to get those calls while on holiday. You have made yourself a single point of failure.

Train other team members to do these tasks. Ask them to document while you are showing them the ropes. This way, you have enabled someone else to step-up while at the same time, you have created a manual for new joiners.

Let go of the “easy tasks” and give space for your team members to grow. Elevate yourself by identifying areas where you can provide more value – ex. building better relationships with key stakeholders.

Start observing and assessing your own behaviour. Take action today to empower your team to reach their full potential!

Need help with your team? Book a team review call here.