Build Leaders By Letting Them Lead

Yesterday, my Google “leadership” news feed fed me this article written by Dr. Brad Hall, who I was introduced to through this article – way to go Google news feed!  (If you haven’t read any of his stuff, you should – his articles are awesome.)

So, now that I have touted Dr. Hall’s articles, I am going to challenge this one – at least a little bit.  In this article, Hall lists three ways that a company can improve its leadership development: 1) Buy Leaders; 2) Measure leadership; and 3) teach, practice, and teach.  These are great steps and would improve leadership development in 99% of the companies out there. 

(Note: On the “Buy Leaders” front – everyone should be clamoring to hire military veterans.  I don’t know any other 18-25 year olds who have had as much leadership experience.)

However, I think Dr. Hall left out the most important way you develop leaders: let them lead.

You let them lead, by empowering them and being BEHIND them to support, mentor and assist.  This above quote from Lao Tzu is one of the best visual descriptions of leadership that I have ever heard. 

This is perhaps the biggest difference between the U.S. military and corporate America – in the military, our young leaders are given real responsibility and allowed to execute.  One of the many things that makes the Marine Corps different (read: better) than the other services is as an organization the Marine is religious about empowering its junior people.  Right now, in Afghanistan a Marine Corporal, who may not be old enough to drink, is making a life and death decision.  There is no other organization in the world that empowers its junior leaders like the U.S. Marine Corps. 

Click through to learn some ways you can learn to empower your people to lead like the Marine Corps does. 

The biggest challenge leaders have in empowering their people is trusting their subordinates actions and judgment.  Leaders have worked hard to get where they are, and they do not want suffer a set back due to someone else’s mistake.  So, they stay involved in their subordinates’ decisions and end up as a micro-manager. 

We have all worked for these leaders (unfortunately, even the USMC has some micro-managers), and we have all hated it.  There is nothing more frustrating than feeling like you are going to be second guessed on every action you take or decision you make.  So, if we all hate it when we are micro-managed, why do so many of us overly scrutinize our subordinates?  Easy, CYA is alive and well. 

Here is the real news though – if you trust your people, they will often double down for you and will have your back to a higher degree than when you double check them.  The best officers I have worked for in my Marine Corps career gave me their guidance and orders and then let me execute.  They put some much trust in me I would have cut my right arm off before letting them down. 

So, we know trusting your people is key, but let’s be real, none of us want to be this guy, who wasn’t involved in the collisions. 

It comes down to the leader developing subordinates he can trust.   Throughout my career, I worked very hard to ensure that my subordinates knew how I thought and what I expected so I would be able to trust them.  There are several ways to train your people so you can trust them; here are some methods that have worked for me:

         1)      Know Your People – You cannot trust someone you do not know.  You need to learn how your subordinates think, how they react and how they “tick.”  Take an effort to know your people, and you will know who you can trust when. 

         2)      Train Them – Dr. Hall has it exactly right in the “teach, practice, teach” step to building a leader.  You need to train your people to do their jobs.  Whether their job is operating in combat or developing software, you cannot trust people unless you know that they know their job.  As their leader, it is your job to teach them their job. 

         3)      Communicate Your Expectations – You need to teach your subordinates what you expect.  Do not make them guess – this will lead to bad results and frustration on both sides.  If you expect your employees to do X, Y and Z, you need to tell them that.  If you don’t and they only do X and Y – it is your fault, not theirs. 

          4)      Hold Them Accountable – Hold your people accountable for their actions and decisions – both to you and their peers.  This doesn’t mean fire them for each and every mistake, but it does mean do something when they mess up – even if it is just a verbal reprimand (in the Marine Corps, we call it a “butt-chewing”).  People cannot learn from mistakes if no one tells them that they made a mistake. 

           5)      Let Them Make Decisions – You have to let your people make decisions to learn if they can make decisions.  Start small if you have to – or have them explain a decision before acting on it.  But whatever you do, you have to let your people act on their own. 

Here is the ultimate step in learning to trust your people – get them to trust you.  The best way to do this is when your subordinate screws up – and they will – you go to your boss, and you take responsibility.  You want undying loyalty from your people – you let them see you take a beating for them.  This proves that you support them, and they will remember, trust and support you ever after.  Once they trust you, you know that you can trust them.  Then, you can lead them by walking behind.