the top 5 people-development mistakes to avoid

Number 5: Valuing successful individuals over successful behaviors. Whenever thinking about your “favorite” employees, force yourself to name the basic, replicable behaviors that earned them your favor. Talking about these allows others to grow: it’s way easier to start “following up on all commitments, like Natalie does” than to “be more like Natalie.”

Number 4: Making people “earn” my approval. Folks work harder to maintain the status they already have than they do even to improve it. Never miss an opportunity to tell folks (even for the 400th time) the behaviors you love about them, nor to tell strugglers the behaviors you know they have in them.

Number 3: Giving new staff a chance to “get settled.” Immerse those who don’t know yet “what it takes to succeed here” in the top behaviors of your company immediately. Use positive peer pressure: your impressionable new employees should think your top performers are the norm and start aspiring to be like them.

Number 2: Withholding recognition. Instead of never having the time to share compliments, stop yourself weekly and ask, “Any progress folks have made that I’ve failed to recognize publicly?” and send out a flurry of one-sentence texts, emails, or Slacks right then and there.

Number 1: Waiting for them to change themselves (and/or apologize for their mistakes). Think like an inspiring teacher: it’s your job to tell strugglers which behaviors are a drag and which will make them successful (see Number 5).

-Ben