“It’s Easier Just To Fire Them!”

I heard this statement from one of my coaching clients the other day and could feel his stress and anxiety through the phone! I reminded him that leaders don’t do what’s easy, they do what’s right. After a few moments of a small pity-party, he said, “Okay, now what?”

Great leaders build their reputations by empowering others. While it might seem easy to just cut your losses and let them go, it actually costs much more in time, money, energy, and resources to let them go and find a replacement.

How do you equip your people?

As I was preparing this lesson, I thought, “Man, there is no way I can tell them the answer to that question in a short blog post! I wish they were in the Empowered Leaders Group.” In the Empowered Leaders group we talk at length about how to do this, not just from a principle standpoint, but an individual and personal standpoint, each week in our group coaching sessions. However, let me give you five quick points. John Maxwell taught me these years ago in a mentoring session:

• Model- people do what people see. Make sure you are doing things the way you want your people to do them. AND, make sure you give them an opportunity to SEE you do things, such as behind-the-scenes observation of your work; perhaps observing you making decisions or meeting with others. Give them access to you!
• Mentor- Beyond just having them observe, mentor them. Explain to them not only WHAT you are doing but WHY. The what helps them see the now, the WHY helps them develop a new what in the future.
• Monitor- give them things to do, mostly in their strength zone. Watch them. This could be actually watching or having them report back to you. Try to delegate some things to them and not touch them again. The rule for delegation is, if they can do something 80% as well as you, they should!
• Motivate- As they are taking over things for you, encourage, lift up, and motivate them to think differently, do differently, and reflect on what they are doing. At this point, you are the Chief Inspiration Officer.
• Multiply- This is where you mentor them on finding THEIR replacement! You want them to begin giving away some of their work and following this same process. The goal for you all is to work yourselves out of your current jobs into even bigger jobs that move the team forward.

If you want to go deeper, join us in the Empowered Leaders Membership Group. If you sign up by 11:59 pm on 7/31, you’ll receive these bonuses:

• A complimentary DISC personality report that shows you how you prefer to communicate AND gives you tips on how to communicate with others that might connect differently than you. ($99 value)
• A 30-minute coaching call with me to talk about your report and how to flex your style to listen and connect better. ($60 value)
• An EBook on how to communicate, collaborate, and connect with anyone! ($11 Value)
• Sign up yourself OR if you’re already in the group, refer a friend who signs up and receive this package ($170 value) for FREE.

We’d love to have you! Empowered Leaders Group