YOU’VE probably heard a lot about ‘growth mind-set’ these days. Certainly I’ve discussed it before in this column; essentially it’s the idea that people believe they can continue to grow and learn throughout their life, rather than be limited by fixed, innate ability that won’t really change much, no matter what we do (it’s worth reading Carol Dweck for some great insight into this).
Jim Gavin is a big proponent of it. Rather than be a dictator and restrict the Dublin team that conquered all before it, Gavin provided an environment within which they could learn to lead and develop, where the players could exercise their own judgement.
He accepted that sometimes they would make mistakes, but even if they did, this would always provide a learning point. As he said himself: "we just give them the framework and they execute the skill set. This is very much a player-driven team”, “our role is to enable and empower them to be the best." The result: five-in-a-row.
There are many different elements to developing and nurturing a growth mind-set among your own team at work, however a central component that we will look at here is delegation. Now that’s appropriate delegation, not just shrugging off something you simply don’t want to do yourself.
Rather, it’s the empowerment of your team to undertake and lead suitable elements of work themselves. Unless they are allowed to do so then they will rarely have the opportunity to fully develop and practice learning in action (and isn’t it always more motivating if you have some skin in the game yourself).
Some leaders find this hard to do; they need to be involved in the minutiae, having sign off at every step and a place at every meeting. Unfortunately what this can do is push the other person to the side and neuter their influence. So sometimes a deep breath, courage and trust in your team are required.
That’s not to say you should step away completely, but there should be a clear indication of who is doing what and where responsibility lies. When delegating, a leader should understand the strengths, weaknesses and interests of their team members and designate opportunities appropriately.
Some projects may be to build on an existing depth of knowledge or to develop leadership potential in areas they are already proficient. Other projects will be to stretch that person, to get them working in areas where they are not comfortable, where they are not an expert, so they develop new skill sets and broaden their knowledge.
It’s important that when delegating that it’s done with a proper plan and a clearly communicated, mutually understood outcome. You should be specific regarding purpose, resources and time. The delegate should be vested with responsibility and an understanding of what their boundaries are.
Like the Dublin team’s framework, they should understand where they can be creative, where they can make their own decisions and where they need to check in. There should also be a degree of patience. Expect mistakes to be made, but put sufficient checks and balances in so that they cannot be catastrophic.
When you think about what we’ve been through so far in 2020 (and no doubt there will be more twists and turns to come) don’t we need that growth mind-set more than ever to meet these new challenges ahead?
I’ll leave you with a story from just across the Irish sea, in Liverpool, that tells of how Jürgen Klopp was asked by one of his coaches what time he wanted the bus to come and collect the players for a match.
Klopp replied "why on earth are you asking me, surely the bus driver is the best man to ask?"
No need for micromanagement; the best are unafraid to delegate
Barry Shannon (bshannon@cayan.com) is human resources director at TSYS Cayan in Belfast.
