What do people do when they don’t know what to do? They do what they know, however that may not be in alignment with what you as a leader want them to do. It may be obvious that a leader should say what is expected but when it comes to the subtle skills of listening, communication, and generally interacting with other human beings few leaders provide training and direction. However, those subtle skills and behavioral characteristics are often the critical ones that differentiate great from average.
Beyond modeling their own skills, leaders have three options: hire for those skills; train for those skills; or accept the skills that accompany the technical skills they hire for. Unfortunately most leaders hire based on if the person can do the job and fire on how they do the job. Best practice of course selects on both as well as whether the person actually wants to do the job. We know from Leadership Charisma research that employee engagement and success are driven by fit with the job and a leader who helps them feel and fare better as a person as well as a professional. Developing the subtle skills of employees is one of the best ways to do that.
