During a recent talk with peers, I was asked about effective leadership principles. More specifically, which ones proved instrumental during my career in navigating the complexity of managing teams, projects, and all kinds of stakeholders?
I’d like to share my drivers when it comes to what I call sustainable team/people management. But first, an anecdote to illustrate.
A professional kitchen is generally composed of different positions: commis, demi-chef, chef de partie, sous-chef, head chef, pastry chef, head pastry chef, saucier, etc. All have their very specific qualities and capabilities.
A saucier can provide the most marvelous sauces to accompany a meat or a fish dish but is not able to make a dessert. This is the pastry chef role. The same goes for the commis, who has to learn how to cut veggies and make starters. He could not work as a chef de parties, who is generally responsible for baking the meat or the fish, because he has more experience.
The same goes for any kind of industry: the right people must be hired for the right function at the right moment.
So, here is what I took away from this experience:
👉 Always create an environment where colleagues/teams can express their capabilities to the fullest and develop these capabilities further or learn new ones. It makes no sense to hire resources with the necessary capabilities only to set them in an environment where they cannot perform as they were intended to.
Next week, I’ll focus on another leadership principle that enhances sustainable team management, so stay tuned!
What are your top drivers as a leader of team(s)/people?
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