Top Shelf Take: Stay Out of the Woods

[00:00:03] [SPEAKER_01] Welcome to Top Shelf Take from SpeakEasy HR presented by Payroll Partners. This is a quick take to cover one topic, share one perspective and give you one takeaway. And now your host, David Noe.

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_00] Hey there and cheers to you. Welcome to another Top Shelf Take from SpeakEasy HR presented by Payroll Partners. I'm David Noe, an HR leader with 20 years of experience, small business owner, recruiter, content creator and host of SpeakEasy HR. If you're new here, this is a quick take where we cover one topic, one perspective and one takeaway. So let's get into it. This topic has nothing to do with HR.

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00] It is all about leadership and what I learned about being out in the middle of the woods with a bunch of eighth graders. Yes, this week I volunteered to chaperone with my son's eighth grade class trip to a local campsite about an hour away. And if you've ever spent time with a bunch of eighth graders for a few days, you know you're probably going to get a bunch of shenanigans and stories and observe a lot.

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_00] But one thing I was not really prepared to experience was sitting in the middle of the woods and watching kids struggle to build a survival shelter in one of their activities. They learned about survival and what to do and what to start with and how long they had to build a shelter and get water and food and survive if they were in a plane crash or something in the middle of the woods. So they had about 30 minutes to build a shelter.

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00] They were trying to find sticks and branches and leaves and moss and mud, and they were struggling. They were trying to figure it out. And I just want to jump in so badly and go over there and say, here, give me that. I know what to do. Let me show you how to do this. But I wasn't there to do that. I wasn't there to help them build that shelter. I was there to chaperone. And what I needed to do would just stay back and watch and observe. And it caused a little frustration on me.

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_00] But I had to sit there and watch them problem solve and communicate and build something before the end of their time. Was it perfect? Absolutely not. Would I have built it probably differently? Yes. But you know what? It was theirs. And that's what got me thinking about leadership because we all do this at work. We see someone struggle. We know the answer. We've done it before. We know we can fix it faster. So we just jump in. Solve the problem.

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_00] We walk away thinking, maybe I'm a good leader. I helped them, right? But did we? Or did we just prevent them from learning? There's a big difference between helping someone and doing something for them. And I think sometimes as leaders, we have to be willing to watch someone struggle. Not fail. Not to set them up for failure. Not be left without support, but struggle. Because struggle can be where development happens. They're out of their comfort zone. Think about the people you've developed in your career.

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_00] Some of the biggest lessons you've learned probably didn't come from you giving them the answer. It came from you asking a question or giving them a little room or letting them try something and figure it out. What didn't work. That's development. And honestly, that's hard for leaders. It really is. Because we want results. We want things done correctly on time. And sometimes we can't. We can do it better ourselves, right? But if we're always the person who swoops in and fixes everything, eventually our team learns something very different.

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_00] They learn to wait for us. They learn to come to us with every single problem. And they never develop the confidence to solve those things on their own. So here's my Top Shelf Take for all of you leaders out there. Don't confuse helping with doing. The next time someone on your team is struggling, before you jump in, ask yourself, do they actually need me to step in? Or do they need me to give them the space to figure it out? Maybe they need coaching. Maybe they need a little direction.

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_00] Maybe they need you to remove a real obstacle. Or maybe they just need you to stand there and let them struggle long enough to learn. Because sometimes the best thing a leader can do is stay out of the woods. And that's my takeaway this week. Give people the tools. Give them the support. And then give them the opportunity to figure it out. You don't always have to build the shelter for them. Sometimes you just need to make sure they're safe while they're building it themselves.

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00] Thanks for joining me on another top shelf take from SpeakEasy HR presented by Payroll Partners. Until next time, take care of yourself. Take care of your people. And remember, sometimes the best leadership move is knowing when to step in and when to step back. Cheers to you. And I'll see you on the next one.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_01] Thanks for tuning in to another top shelf take from SpeakEasy HR presented by Payroll Partners. If you're still waiting on hold with your payroll provider, maybe it's time for a change. Let's talk. Cheers to you. And we'll catch you on the next one.