All great leaders understand that outstanding leadership comes down to your being and not your doing. Average-minded individuals believe that leadership is more about doing. The world-class thinker understands that leadership comes down to character development, which is cultivated through personal and professional development. By developing their character through personal and professional development programs and participating in coaching, champions can copy those skills learned to coach their employees to new levels efficiently.

The average-minded leader leads with denial, unaware that their leadership model is more about control, doing what is said, and not asking questions. Additionally, the average-minded leader does the subordinate’s work as they enable their employees instead of developing them. When subordinates come to an average-minded leader with questions, the leader simply answers the questions, enforcing the subordinate’s beliefs that they can’t answer the question themselves. What ends up happening is that the average-minded leader wastes time and spends more time doing the subordinate’s jobs than developing the subordinates to think critically; instead of the subordinate thriving and growing, the subordinate heads to the average-minded leader whenever there is a dilemma regardless of how small or big it is.

However, world-class leaders understand that developing their subordinates is the most efficient path. Yes, it takes more time in the short term, but it saves tremendous time in the long run. They understand that answering simple questions creates an unhealthy dependency between the subordinate and the leader. Instead, the world-class leader responds to the subordinate’s questions through reflective questions, training the individual to learn how to think in the preferred way. Additionally, the world-class leader takes the time to encourage, reinforce, and remind the subordinate of the topics that need to be brought to the leader and the ones they can figure out.

The world-class leader understands something the average-minded leader is too impatient to accept. Great leaders know that the most effective way to help someone uncover their hidden potential and wisdom is by asking insightful questions that encourage introspection. By doing this, the leader can empower their employees to coach themselves and develop their own inner power and strength. Champions know that this is the key to unlocking true potential.

The average-minded leader ends up building a team of incompetent and codependent employees. The world-class leader develops a robust team that thrives and reaches new capacities. The world-class leader understands that the best approach to developing subordinates is to act as their coach.

The world-class spends time developing the character of their subordinates, which means they learn the individuals’ emotional motivators. Through the introspective process, learning occurs on two levels. The first level involves a person digging deep into their mental garden, identifying their blind spots, fears, and emotions that drive their behavior. On the second level, the world-class thinker in a leadership position becomes aware of how to intrinsically motivate by pushing the right buttons to encourage action from their subordinates.

Average-minded leaders propel their team forward through logic and logic alone. Since the subordinates are paralyzed by fear, rarely are they able to provide creative and transformative responses. Subordinates are often driven by fear rather than empowered to share their insights and wisdom with an average leader. However, the world-class thinker understands that humans are emotional and therefore leverages emotion to facilitate that introspective process and cultivate change. When the world-class asks their subordinates a question, they get emotional responses as they feel comfortable and psychologically safe, empowering them to answer in terms of feeling and truth instead of just analytics, logic, or what the leader wants to hear.

Since the subordinate of the world-class thinker knows and has experienced that the world-class leader cares, the subordinate is more willing to go the extra mile. The biggest reason is that the world-class leader has allowed emotional bonding to occur, whereas the average-minded leader doesn’t have time for that.

In conclusion, facilitating an effective retrospective process is crucial for teams looking to improve and grow. By taking the time to reflect on past performance, identify areas for improvement, ask probing questions, and develop action plans, teams can work together to achieve their goals and reach new levels of success. As a world-class leader, it is essential to prioritize and invest in this process to help your team reach its full potential. Learning to facilitate an effective retrospective process is the key to taking your team to the next level.

Action Plan:

Intentionally work on making your subordinates feel comfortable and psychologically safe around you; this is the foundation for creativity and ideas to flourish. When your subordinates come to you asking questions, consider asking clarifying questions before answering. The key is to look for ways to develop them to be more competent and efficient in their position.

Such questions may be:

1. What are you hoping to understand better by asking that question?
2. Where exactly are you unclear?
3. What does the ideal situation look like to you?
4. What do you think is the best decision to make?
5. Tell me more.
6. If you were me, what would you ask yourself to get the most ideal results?