The bus driver

During a leadership group coaching session, we were talking about employee development and development discussions. After listening to the group for a while, I started seeing a pattern. All leaders felt pretty much personally responsible for the development of their employees.

This is highly applaudable, if we are talking about small nudges in the right direction. Or shining some light on some unseen potential. I think I am not alone, when I say, that I also had to be convinced, that I have the right qualities to become a leader. As there are people who are blind to their flaws, there are also many people, who are blind to their qualities. Sure, help those see themselves as you see them!

But! This was not about that. This was about employees demanding, and expecting their leaders to get them the leadership position they dream of (albeit being told multiple times, they are lacking the right competencies). So this kind of shorted my circuits, as I could not understand why the leader needs to give explanations, about why the other person is not right for the job. How is it, that they are not able to figure this out by themselves? Past the obvious blind spots that need to be addressed.

Turns out, the leaders kept giving task, where the employees can try themselves out, and if they failed, the employees alway somehow concluded, that it is not them but the task was not right for their skills. So the leader tried again, and the result, not surprisingly, was the same. So I am sitting there perplexed, and all my coachees are looking at me jus as perplexed. What is it that I don’t get? It’s their job, to give employees opportunities to try their wing, no? Well, not like this…

When I am out of ideas, I always turn to analogies, hoping I find the right one, to paint the picture in my had. So I started saying:

“Imagine, you are driving a bus. Your employee is sitting in the back, gazing out the window. You take him to a nice beach. He gets out, looks around, starts picking at some shells, and says: Well, sorry boss, but not really a beach person you know? The sand between my toes is kinda irritating and I am not much of a swimmer either… So what do you do? You get back on the bus, you wreck your brain what to do, because you don’t want to lose top talent. So you quickly drive to a forest. You get off the bus with a big smile, but already see him waving off mosquitos and making faces at the trees… ”

At this point I started noticing more and more heads nodding and smiling. So I asked the question: “Who is doing all the work here?” More smiles followed. Slowly people started recognising the glitch in the system.

Why is it a problem if we are trying to figure out the right path for our employees? It’s because we are robbing them of opportunities to learn. And this is valid for parent-kid relations too, maybe that is why most feel, that this is the right way to do things.

The term I will use to explain is “self-efficacy”. It was introduced in the late ‘70s by Albert Bandura, and he used it to explain, why it is important for people to make their own decisions. By default, we fall into one of two categories. Those who believe, that they have active influence over their lives, and those, who think everything is predetermined, and no matter what they do, they fall back in the same rut. No matter which category, we need one thing to calibrate the algorithm: feedback. But not the type of “let’s sit down and I tell you” feedback, but to experience the outcome of our own actions.

What happens, when we take on the responsibility to figure out what is best for them? If we make a mistake, because we fail to properly read their minds, they will not hold themselves accountable for this failure. It will be your failure as a leader. By not being accountable for their failure, they will also not learn anything from the experience. How could they? They are not the ones who failed. They keep doing everything right, keep waiting for the right opportunity, but the universe keeps sending incompetent bosses their way.

Turn the roles around. Put them in the driving seat and sit in the backseat and observe. Give options, point out the potholes in the road and intervene when they are about to drive off a cliff. It won’t matter anymore if the outcome is right or wrong, making one’s decision will allow them to feel responsible for it. If it turns out they made a mistake, they will easier realise where they made a wrong turn.

What are the input parameters for self-efficacy?

1. past experience: if we’ve already done something and succeeded, we are more likely to do it again. But there is always a first time. As a leader, make sure you are encouraging your employees to try, and don’t set them up for failure. That’s like shooting yourself in the foot while running a marathon.

2. vicarious learning: be a model to follow. Be authentic. Talk about your failures, and the fact that you were also not born a leader. When people see others succeed against all odds, they are more likely to be motivated to try.

3. social encouragement: this is why team morale is important. Do you have a bunch of naysayers? Well, that might be a problem. Try shifting to a supportive environment, where it’s ok to fail, lear and try again.

4. mental health: what is the baseline emotional arousal in your team? If the base stress level is high, people will more likely be avoidant of trying out new behaviours. This will have a negative effect on developing self-efficacy (refer back to point 1). Try to improve the overall emotional state of the team and don’t forget, in most cases the biggest source of stress is the leaders itself…

There are so many things leaders can do to help employees develop. Start by making sure they are always accountable for their decisions. (P.S.: valid for you as an employee to! It’s in your own interest to take charge of your own career, life, legacy, etc…)