When leaders go to a conference or seminar they don’t stand up and say “I am stuck, over my head, don’t know what my priorities are, and I feel overwhelmed – like I don’t know what I am doing.” Why? They don’t want others to know they are vulnerable and don’t want to be embarrassed.
Your employees do the same thing. They lie and hide and fake like they know what they are doing so they don’t get embarrassed, fired, or laid off. They aren’t going to say “Hey boss, I’m not doing great over here. I don’t really know how to do my job really well.” In other cases, they may THINK they are doing good, but they don’t know what is possible or what even better performance looks like, or what would be required to get it, so they stay silent. It’s human nature.
This is why you have to train people whether they think they need it or not. Always be looking for ways to engage them, to bring out their best, and to improve – even if things seem to be “ok”.
I bet some of them do have ideas to get better, but you never asked for them – ask. If they are good ideas implement them and train everyone else.
Hey Larry!
This is great advice and something I need to remember more often. Too often I trust that my guys know more than they actually do and give them tasks without sufficient instructions. This of course gives them opportunity to stretch and grow their skills but a little more instructions ahead of time can “click” when they are in the thick of it and help things go along so much smoother!
Hey Larry Janesky! I faithfully read both blogs. They’re the only “social media” that I participate in. Thank you for your hard work on the posts. They are aptly named because they invariably make me thin every day.
TRUTH!