The Metiss Group's Blog

Most successful leaders can recall the specific point in their career when one of their bosses took a chance on them. The leader will typically credit this boss/mentor for having launched their career and greatly appreciated the chance to demonstrate their abilities.

It’s flabbergasting how many of these same leaders today are reluctant to take similar risks with their direct reports.  In all likelihood the boss who took a chance on them had some trepidations but realized they and the organization would be more successful by giving them a chance to grow. Sure some of these risks don’t pay off, but the learning experience still pays dividends.

Leaders don’t have to blindly empower their direct reports and hope they deliver. Establish borders and boundaries for the empowering task. Be clear about what success looks like and specify the available resources, restrictions, and timeframes.

Successful leaders might not be where they are today had their boss not taken a risk on them.

Leaders who empower direct reports will see more success for both themselves and their direct report (and someday the direct report will credit the leader for launching their career).

This entry was posted on July 17, 2015 at 8:07 pm and is filed under Leadership. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.