Dr. Cara shares John Maxwell's method for identifying real leadership potential: invite people to leadership tables to observe and participate before promoting them. Tenure alone doesn't determine readiness. Give people chances to try roles, build authentic connections, and create psychological safety to see who actually steps up.
I'm leaning into building habits and habit stacking. So today what I decided I was going to do in the morning as I got ready was listen to some podcasts. And I so happened to be blessed with hearing John Maxwell. He answered a question and I was outdone in the best possible way. There was a person who came on and she asked, What should she do? Because she has a small company. I think she says she had like right under 30 people and that she is the head of the company. She wanted to find a way to allow people to grow within her organization. And so what she thought she would do is take the people who have been there the longest and promote them into leadership roles. Now, she said it's been a year or two, and only one of the 3 or 4 people that she promoted was still there. John Maxwell shared a tip that I, again, thought was just brilliant. So I love John Maxwell. I must own that and say that when I first heard him, or shall I say, saw him, I was kind of like, okay, what's this man going to tell me? Because I mean, we're like polar opposites. The depth and the wisdom that he brings, it's just a match. And I think anyone who knows about leadership has to know about John Maxwell. Anyway, he gave a gem that I want to bring into the space and then I want to take it and put my spin on it. He told the lady what he encouraged her to do was to have leadership tables and invite people, not place them in leadership role, however, allow them to sit at the table and have leadership discussions. So this way you don't have to go all the way forward with promoting someone, and you actually can see if they have the ability, the capability, and what they do. Because somebody has tenure doesn't mean that they should be promoted, and I 100% agree with that. So How do you know if somebody is cut out to be elevated in your organization? How do you know what their strengths are? How do you find what they are best at and support that? I personally think not only do you need to look at what they're the best at and what they bring forward that is efficient and effective. I think you also need to tap into who are they, what drives them, what motivates them, and what is their passion? So for me, I think setting the tone by connecting with people who work for you, no matter what level they are in the organization, and depending on how high you sit in the organization, how many people are there, there is a way to still allow people to feel connected to you and for you to connect with individuals. So that way, when opportunities become available and you bring them to the leadership thought table. And again, it's by invitation, and it may not mean that they come every week. You may rotate people within the seat, as John Maxwell suggested, but you have an opportunity to not only see how they show up in those times and in processing through and talking through the leadership moments, you also have an opportunity to connect to what they're most passionate about. And what I found is when you're able to do that, it unlocks so much within an individual. It's so critical that we enjoy what we do. We're not always going to love it, and there's going to be times when we have to do things that aren't our favorite thing. But when you can provide opportunities to people to do things that are aligned with their values, their mission, and their purpose, you will see something soar within them that is just magical. So, I invite you as a leader to really think, how can you connect to the people that work with you? And how can you tap into their resources and their strengths from an organic, authentic place? The first thing starts with simple conversation and taking one or two extra minutes when you're working with people to get to know something about them. Also, if you notice something that may be a little different than what you've seen in the past, getting curious and asking. Curiosity from a genuine, authentic place is one of the greatest extenders of connection. And people really appreciate when a leader is genuinely interested in who they are and what's going on with them outside of what they produce and how fast they produce it and give it to me now. I invite you to look, where can you slow down? Because it's important. I'll never forget walking through the hallways and connecting with people on my way to my office, just taking a moment. Yeah, I needed to get to my desk, But you know what? When people said hi to me, if I had that extra second, I would go over and speak and try to just check in and say, how are you doing today? How was your ride? Oh man, I hope you didn't hit a lot of traffic. And just really connect with them on whatever was important to them in that moment. That carried a long way because guess what? If there was something that needed to be done and I had to ask somebody to do something, they knew I cared more about what they— than just what they could produce. I cared about who they were as people. People, and they cared about me, and we all cared about the mission and the work. So I want to leave you with: create opportunities for people to show up before you have the opportunity to place them in different positions. Give them opportunities to try on different roles, different responsibilities, and also ask for their input. That is one of the sure ways to build connection and to foster psychological safety.
