Coaching your team to rely on you less

I'm going to give you an example of a client who runs an AI company. And he was essentially playing the role of the head of product. Also, he realized that he was the blocker on every decision. He was resenting it. He wanted his team to take more ownership. But with some coaching, he realized he was training his team to come to him with every decision. So he decided he needed to create some behavior change for the way he was interacting with the tech lead on each project so that they would take more ownership. So we really invested in this idea of set the system up so they each have clear KPIs. They're driving to that we co design. And for this next quarter, I'm shifting from the role of deciding on everything to coaching. I'm going to really ask good questions. I'm going to align to the KPIs, ask how things are going, ask where they're stuck. And he's so much more energized. He said the squads are moving so much faster. The teams feel more empowered and motivated and he has time to pick his head up and plan for 2020 and spend his time and his gifts, which are product vision and strategy.