The lid on your team’s growth

There’s a quote that I learned from my buddy that goes like this:

Mary Kay, the author of the quote, is the Mary Kay from Mary Kay Cosmetics. If you know nothing about the organization, you may have at least met one of the three million folks who are Mary Kay independent consultants or entrepreneurs.

The notion, simple as it is, ties to my post from yesterday. When leaders don’t get out of the way, they can easily become the lid that limits the growth of their teams and companies.

How does a leader’s speed impact the speed of their team? Here are several ways – see if any of these sound familiar.

All the decisions must be reviewed and approved. Wonder why your team moves slowly and can’t pivot fast enough?

Teams aren’t learning new things. Is there a commitment on the part of the leader to create opportunities and time for learning, proactively? Or is our goal for profitability causing us to limit any allocated time for growth?

There aren’t new ideas and new products. Wonder why your teams aren’t taking new risks? Is it because their leader continually explains why those new ideas won’t work?

As a leader, our goal has to be focused on equipping our team for growth, risk and action. When we do that, we limit the lid on their growth. When we don’t, our pace limits theirs.