Therese M.

The key to being a good listening partner is to listen. Most people just need someone to listen. As communication gets longer than anticipated, I am a supportive listener by redirecting the topic back to main idea. We all love a good story but sometimes we have to save the page turner for another day.

Offering the right balance of support is like adding too much or too little salt to a receipe. If you under salt your receipe, people will talk about you, if you over salt your receipe people will talk about you. Find the just right amout to create leaders of today and tomorrow.

In this ever changing landscape of growing businesses it could be difficult to set and keep clear objectives. It is up to leaders to not get caught up in the weeds of operations. Set goal, provide support when needed and allow people to grow to greater. This will allow employees the ability to walk and soar in most cases. Those who require hand holding, only do it for a set amout of time. Once guidelines are given move out the way ans create independent thinkers.

From 30 years of experience I have found there also is the possibility that the employee is just not a great fit for the role. Once you have set clear goal, created clear lanes for success and provided support and independence for success, it's up to the employees to take charge of their career. If there are still clear gaps in their performance it is time to consider areas where the skills and qualifications of the employees would be great. There are times when we do not see that the employee can not be great in current position. In this case it's time to support them in their transformation to greater.

One thing I have found helpful is to stay positive, always bring it back to the needs of the business and stay professional and to the point.

Networking and collaborative idea sharing are key components to an individual leader success. Not only do these expand your professional tool kit but it also creates relationships beyond your current ecosystem. We should never stop growing and sharing tools for our development. Most importantly always lean into these resources. As you move out your comfort zone, these relationships will help you grow beyond your imagination.