I’m gaining a ton of personal fulfillment and energy these days from coaching, developing, and leading my team.  My desire is to do whatever I can to help them succeed and win.

What drive me to do this?  Well, several things.  For one…I love my team and care about their development as leaders…or better yet – as humans!  And secondly, I know that if they succeed, so will The Orchard’s mission.  

One practical way I try and help set them up for success is by giving each of my direct reports an opportunity to give me – their leader – direct feedback on how they feel I could do a better job of leading them.  So once a month, right alongside my input and development of their leadership, I ask them to answer a very simple, three-part question:

What can I (as your leader)….START, STOP, & CONTINUE DOING…..that would help set you up for greater success?

This is an important question because it cuts out any assumptions I may have about how well I’m leading my team.

More specifically, here’s what I’m asking:

START – What am I not currently doing that could potentially set you up for greater success?

STOP – What am I currently doing that is frustrating you or that you feel could be hindering your success as a leader?

CONTINUE – What am I currently doing that is helping you to succeed?

I’m convinced that building a strong team isn’t just about the leader developing, growing, and stretching their team…..it’s also about providing that team with regular and consistent opportunities to develop, grow, and stretch their leader.

What are some of your best practices for doing this?  

Tags: Aurora, coaching, Continue, Development, Illinois, Leadership, Management, scott hodge, Staff, Start, Stop, Team, The Orchard Community

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 11:25 am and is filed under Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.