When you put a team member in a stretch role, how much of that role should they know how to do?
Our reader poll today asks: When you put a team member in a stretch/developmental role, how much of that role should they know how to do before you give it to them? 90% or more: 2% 70%-90%: 16% 50%-70%: 51% 30%-50%: 25% 0%-30%: 5% Balancing risk and growth. Developmental roles are purely a balance between risk and growth. If you don’t take any risk on people, they can’t grow. If you take too much risk, they’ll possibly struggle and fail. Finding that sweet spot can be challenging. Most successful growth roles I see put someone in the “they know 70% of the new role” range. About 67% of you fall in that space. If they know too much about the new role, they’ll grow a bit but then that growth curve flattens out. For those of you putting people in roles where they know less than 50% of the new job, be prepared for them to fail if you don’t provide them significant amounts of coaching and support along the way. Most important of all – have a conversation with this person and clearly communicate how much of a stretch it is and ask them how you can best support them in that role. Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below! – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!