Leaders spend much of their days communicating expectations and then inspiring and shaping their team’s behaviours to help them meet those expectations. Read our blog on inspiring people to act for more info.
To effectively inspire others to develop and grow there are three conversations that every leader needs to practise:
Clarifying Expectations around tasks and behaviours. For further info read our blog on how to be a clarity partner.
Sharing Feedback to encourage skill development. For further info read our blog on feedback to help people develop.
Holding Accountability around tasks and behaviours. Read our blog on delegating collaboratively to help you set clear expectations right from the start and earn the right to hold accountability.
Which conversation you choose to engage in often has more to do with your behaviours than those of those you lead. The place to look to determine which conversation to have starts with you and how clear you have been in setting expectations.
When the goal is to help someone change a behaviour that is not effective or not as effective as it could be there are three questions that you need to ask yourself to help you pick your approach:
Is this person new or developing a new skill set and you have observed something that is not effective? If no move to question 2. If yes - prepare to share feedback with them.
If the person is not new or developing a new skill set then ask yourself “Was I clear in communicating my expectations for this task/project?” If no or you are not sure - prepare to clarify your expectations if yes - move on to question 3.
Are you 100% sure that you were clear on expectations and you observed or experienced this person fail to complete a specific agreement or engage in an ineffective behaviour? If yes, prepare to engage in a conversation about accountability.
Answering these questions will help you determine which type of conversation to have with your leaders. Knowing which conversation is key for you as a leader and will help support next steps.
Now that you know the differences between the different types of conversations, and have resources to help you prepare, it’s time to practise and put the learning into action.
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