One of the best things that you can do as a leader is to teach your team to THINK like you.
Often I see business owners delegating tasks to their team, but then they get frustrated when things aren’t done the way they wanted. They want their team to make decisions on their own, but then they freak out if the team member makes a bad judgment call. They want their team to step up and contribute more, but their team member feels lost in how to even begin to do that.
All of this stems from not teaching your team to think like you.
When your team learns to understand how you think, it gives them more context around what you’re trying to accomplish and how they can best help. They’ll know what they’re doing and also why they’re doing it, and therefore feel more connected to the purpose behind their work. They’ll build more confidence as they understand not only the tasks they’re assigned but also how it all fits into the business as a whole.
When your team understands how you think, it’s easier for them to make decisions on your behalf. They start to ask themselves, “What would the business owner do?” — so that things keep moving forward without you needing to constantly be involved. Without you making every tiny decision (think: less interruptions, less decision fatigue).
Here’s one simple way to start teaching your team to think like you:
While you’re passing along the “what” you want your team to do, make sure that you’re also passing along the “why”. Explain how what they’re doing impacts other areas of the business and why you’re making the decisions that you are.
For example:
Instead of simply asking: Could you start tracking our email open rates?
Try: I’d like to start tracking our email open rates so that I can better understand what type of content is resonating with our audience.
Giving this tiny bit of extra context might prompt your team to think of another task that needs to be done or an SOP that would need to get updated (that you might not think of yourself).
It also likely changes how they execute on the task because they understand the why behind it. With the example above, they might create a spreadsheet that also includes the subject lines, preview text, and click through rates (even though you didn’t specifically ask for those details) because they understand the purpose of what you’re asking them to do.
Will it take longer to share this extra context vs. just asking directly for the thing you want them to do?
Sure, in the short-term. But long-term, they’ll start to anticipate your needs and be able to become more proactive because they understand your thought process on a deeper level.
Helping your team understand not just what you want done but also why it matters—and how the task impacts the rest of your business—makes all the difference.
By simply taking the extra time to share your thought processes with your team, you’ll build trust, improve communication, and pave the way for your team to step up and truly own their role. They’ll do better work (i.e. work that makes you happier) and even start to accomplish tasks better than you may have done yourself.
