[Leadership] Knowing your team member's ability as a team leader

Knowing your team member’s ability what you can encourage them continuously. When you assign the work as you don’t know what the work is, or when you give the work to them without consideration that they can do well, your team members lose the way and feel frustrated your decision and consequence. 

(Translated in Korean: Link)

Mostly workers are heard that the biggest encouragement in their works is accepting their abilities. Of course, some people don't agree with this opinion somehow.

For this case, what kind of virtues do the leaders have to have?

Basically leaders should have open mind and trust their subordinates for recognizing their subordinates' abilities, but the most important this is knowing what they do the best in their subordinates' works. If the leader still does't know it very well, the most important thing might be trying to know it someday.

Today, a leader told me like this.

"You did it better than the time was given and I expected."

However, this conversation can include that the leader hasn't known how I could do it until then. By the way, what did the leader make a mistake in this situation?

Was the expression not enough to show his real mind?, or Unknowing my ability until now is something wrong? Why didn't the leader make me cheer up more than he thought for the better job?

I think that the first fault is what he has no interest to me. In this case, usually subordinates think that I couldn't hear good news even if I suffered a lot. What the hell is it? He didn't think that I could it better than he expected?

For the leader, if he just see the consequence of all works, his subordinate's work can be shown that it is just nothing. However, you know your subordinate might have been trying to make the best result and make an effort even if you were not interested in his job during that time.

Many leaders are making mistakes like this. They normally can't think the process to make the goal, and they just want to see the consequence.

That's why leaders should try to understand their works and make them encourage continuously about what they are doing well now. By the way, I'd like to say that you must not estimate all processes as you interrupt when they work. Of course, if you can control all of these, why not? or you can do it instead of your subordinates. However, if you can't understand very well what they are doing now, suspect your disability in the work before your subordinate is not good at the job.

Secondly, the mistake is unknowing how your subordinate can do work very well until now. How can you let them work even if you didn't know how your subordinate can do it very well? and How can you pass the responsibility for the bad result? I think that's your first basically.

Leaders should have the right eyes for the right direction. At the same time, that's your important job for distributing the work to them. Please think about if you are just blocking in their works or not. If you can't make a decision for this, you need to train to find a right person in the best work. That's the most important thing for the leader.

I think that a leader can't do all works alone. That's why a leader needs subordinates and don't forget sometimes your subordinate is the professional in the work. Don't ask which works do they want to do. Even though they already have in mind which kind of work they want to do, that is you who don't let them work it.

Don't ask them which they want to work, just think about what they work well and what the best ability is from them.

After then, encourage them to work it. That's a start that you can make them more ambitious in their works.