If you read the first post I wrote on this conversation then you know Chad Dilley, COO of IU Health Saxony shared one of his top leadership principles was developing leaders. During our conversation he provided some great practices he utilizes with his team. Let’s take a peak into his toolbox.
Personal Drivers
In his experience between sports and healthcare leadership Chad found three general drivers exist that inspire people to do what they do.
- Intrinsic drivers – these are what Simon Sinek would call the “why” of what they do. Inspired employees have a deeper motivation for what they do than just to collect a paycheck. When developing leaders, we must align their “why” with a match in the organization that will bring forth their strengths serving both them and the organization well.
- Extrinsic motivation – If we are honest some people are motivated by things such as money, time off, recognition, etc. If that is what drives an individual use that to help him or her grow as a leader.
- Stability – If an individual knows their leader can be relied on and is stable that individual will feel more confident and inspired to step up and serve at a higher level within the organization. We buy into the leader before the vision and the leader is the one who provides stability.
Crucial Conversations
This concept was popularized by authors Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, and Switzler in their book Crucial Conversations which is a great resource if this is a challenging skill for you. Specifically, Dilley discussed how these conversations develop people as leaders in two critical ways.
- Impact of poor performance – At times we don’t know what we don’t know and as a leader helping develop other leaders who will have difficult conversations we must model this. Chad sees these conversations as critical for the individual’s development and also a testing ground for their emotional ability to lead.
- Self-awareness – Through these critical conversations leaders help those they lead grow in self-awareness which, as I mentioned in the previous post, is one of Dilley’s key leadership principles.
Your Toolbox
Maybe you have a toolbox at home. Some of the tools you have are simple for you to use while others you may have to refer to the directions every time. Each individual we lead has a toolbox of skills they have developed up until now. Can they continue to develop new skills . . . absolutely. As a leader Dilley suggests we must discover “what is in your toolbox?” 
These tools or skills will inform us where people can have the most success as leaders. If a person is not detail oriented and you want them to lead a detail intensive project . . . both of you will probably be frustrated. Find out your people’s skills, help them grow where they need to and position them so they can lead at the highest level possible.
Do you want to take a deeper dive into this subject? Leadership expert John Maxwell has written an entire book, Developing the Leaders Around You, about this subject which I facilitate mastermind trainings around with leaders. If you want to explore the possibility of bringing this to your team then contact me so we can discover if it makes sense for you. Lead well.
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