How do you create a team culture where people take initiative and make good decisions without always coming back to you? Easy, but not simple: build their judgement. It’s like learning to drive: you know the rules and gain the basic skills, but what really matters is how you read situations and respond in the moment. The more you help your people develop good judgment, the more you can step back and say, “I trust your judgment” – and that’s not just good for them, it’s also good for you.
https://swiy.co/go-build-good-judgement
Do your people feel empowered at work?
The word “empowered” sometimes has negative connotations, but it’s vital for building a future-ready team.
You want people who can take initiative, have the authority to make decisions, and will then make those decisions. But that’s not enough; you also need to trust them to make GOOD decisions, and that means building their judgement.
Five years ago, I taught my then 16-year-old niece, Abbey, to drive. Her parents were reluctant for her to learn driving at 16, but she persuaded them that if her uncle was willing to teach her, that would be OK.
So, I taught Abbey for her first ten or so lessons – the crucial first ten hours, which I think are the most difficult! And then I handed her back to her parents so they could take on all the extra hours of supervised driving she needs before her driving test.
When we were talking about handing over, I said to her,
“Abs, you’re already a pretty good driver. Your job now is to stay out of other people’s accidents.”
Isn’t this true for all of us as drivers every day?
Abbey knew the road rules, she had learned the skill to handle heavy machinery in public, and she was reasonably confident on the road.
But the real test is when she had to make judgement calls. She will often face situations when it’s not a clear-cut decision.
Sometimes it’s safe to go.
Sometimes you need to stop.
Sometimes you need to wait.
And good judgement is knowing the difference between those three options.
This applies to your team as well. You know they have good judgement when they know when to follow the rules, know when to ignore the rules, and know when they don’t know (so they ask you).
Ideally, you’ll get to the situation where somebody comes to you for help, and you can confidently say,
“I trust your judgment.”
Right now, can you do that with all your team members all the time? Probably not, and you don’t HAVE to do it every time.
Sometimes you help – by telling them how to start, showing them the process, adding a few check-in points, maybe even doing it yourself while they shadow you.
But every time you do this, ask yourself,
“What would she have to know next time so I COULD confidently say, ’I trust your judgement’?”
Building good judgement in your team is one of the most important factors in building a culture of change agents.
For more about this and other elements of the future of work, join my free, public, online presentation THIS WEEK. It’s open to everybody, so share the link with others in your team and your network as well.
Register for the virtual masterclass: