Growing People
Growing Others
introduction, past week’s recollection
This past week I was part of an incident analysis for most of the week, as well as identifying remediation actions to take. During the conversation, I realized that the same group of people participated in these incident conversations.
This has the unintended side-effect that tribal knowledge doesn’t spread across the org. While it gets documented, not everyone goes back to read what happened, but that’s a topic for a different time.
Outside of that thought, recently at work, I was part of a re-org and grew my scope. I wanted to take a more intentional and proactive approach to grow teammates.
Intentional Approach
There are two questions I started to ask myself
- How can we get more people into this incident analysis?
- How can I help other people grow around the organization?
I want to learn about setting up guardrails and how to set up people to succeed and find success in the shape they want. Make the time during my work week, and be intentional about growing people.
“And so, lifting as we climb, onward and upward we go, struggling and striving, and hoping that the buds and blossoms of our desires will burst into glorious fruition ‘ere long.” - Mary Church Terrell
The difficult thing for me is how to avoid going overboard. I don’t want to bite more than I can chew, as they say. I want to work with several people whom I can dedicate enough time and attention to for their growth.
Taking the time
I want to give enough time to the people I work with and give myself enough time to find the opportunities for them and things we agree that each will bring to the next meeting.
Within that time, I want to learn to recognize how to better work with people.
Allocate enough time in the calendar and outside office hours to “prepare” something in various cases.
And learn to tune my ears to opportunities for people. Learn which people need what, and work with them to align their goals and the approach to work with them.
coaching
Learn to coach, ask more questions, learn to set up for success, and let people make mistakes
mentoring
Learn to share expertise, connect people to your network, help them grow, and iterate.
sponsoring
Learn to understand when people’s goals align with upcoming things and sponsor people ready to take on a challenge on the next level.
measure? iterate?
Not sure how to measure beyond seeing people succeed! Or fail (hopefully not that much).
Ask for feedback from the people you’re working with, always better to ask, especially as you’re trying to be of service to other people
Conclusion
At this point, I think I have more questions than answers. if you have any recommended reading, let me know!
I’ve found a few books and blog posts, but I’m always eager to learn more.
I need to try different approaches that suit each person’s style, from mentoring to coaching to sponsoring.
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