Victor’s 10 Reflections on Leadership - 6. Give your team opportunities to rise to the occasion
Steve Rosvold 00:05
Welcome to CFO talk. I’m your host, Steve Rosvold, Chief Learning Officer at CFO.University. Joining us from Wichita, Kansas today is Victor Ojeleye to discuss another of his 10 Reflections on Leadership.
Your sixth reflection, Give your team opportunities to rise to the occasion – has multiple benefits. Tell us about them.
Victor Ojeleye 00:29
Yeah, I’ll give a couple examples. Again, starting with work.
A very simple concept we all see everyday is email. I might get copied on email, my manager, my teammate, all of us get copied on emails. And one of the things for me is I’ve transitioned into this great new privilege to lead is that I feel as if I need to answer the email, respond or take some type of action. One thing I’ve noticed is that, if I’m first, it might take away an opportunity for someone who’s much smarter than myself, or someone who should really own it to step up. So, whether it’s a project or a quick answer, one of the things I am mindful of is my step forward diminishing someone else’s opportunity. So conceptually, it means give others an opportunity to step up and, and take it their own route, take their own approach and answer. This also limits the amount of time you might have to spend thinking about the issue – a teammate is already doing that. This is something I’m working on to help give others options and opportunities.
And, then there are other intentional ways of just letting teammates lead. Not giving so much guidance and letting them lead, be creative, give little feedback, intentionally, so they can grow.
When I think about it from a basketball or coaching standpoint, I might not do a teaching point at all. I’ll let the players come up with it. right? Over a process of five to six months, I’ve realized that they are now starting to teach each other. What is really rewarding for me to see that the repetitions work, right. Sports aren’t just about winning and losing they’re about life lessons and learning and repetitions. Do it again, do it again and we all build on that.
Those are some of the ways I’ve observed how letting them rise to the occasion produces great results. Ultimately, in the basketball game we’re doing some of those things we worked on but, I think that’s a similar analogy that to work in life, you give people an opportunity, because there’s so many people around me that know more than I do. And it also takes some things off my own plate because we can’t take all if it on ourselves.
Steve Rosvold 03:14
Yeah, the concept that leaders create leaders. This is how you’re approaching it. Don’t try to be the smartest guy in the room. Let the other people share in and grow from that. Wise beyond your years, Victor. Fantastic.
That wraps up this video short taken from our longer interview with Victor, Reflections on Leadership. CFO.University is a community of member scholars, companies and trusted advisors committed to the professional development of chief financial officers. Learn more about us at CFO.University.
Until next time, Enjoy. Learn. Engage.
Find Victor’s other Reflections on Leadership HERE
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