There’s an important thing that good bosses do out of necessity. They prioritize the equipping and development of their people. Whether you are team lead for a Fortune 500 company, teaching a class of future entrepreneurs, or the CEO of a high performance household, setting priorities for developing yourself and those you lead is essential. But with limited time and energy, how do you prioritize development goals when they fit only some, but not everyone? For that matter, how do you connect each member to the larger set of success goals? Let’s talk more about how good bosses with limited time can prioritize people development over project management.

Good Bosses with Limited Time Investigate

We started this topic with things a “good boss” does to effectively motivate their team. Good bosses must effectively motivate, yes. But motivation can take valuable time – something many of us in a leadership position lack the most. So, let’s deal with an even more timely subject: lack of TIME!

If you’re reading this article, you are more than likely aware that it’s your InnerKinetics (your God-given inner design) that fuels the person you are becoming every day. Here’s an important truth about your InnerKinetics. According to Dr. Ray Lincoln (founder of InnerKinetics), “The path to success for each of us is written in our inner strengths.”  Each of us have a package of inner strengths that drive us to achieve our purpose and experience a sense of fulfillment with our lives. We use these strengths to manage time, accomplish goals, create healthy mindsets, build relationships with others, and manage our emotions. In fact, identify any positive achievement in someone’s life and, with some investigation, you’ll also be able to identify how they used a specific inner strength to accomplish that achievement.

So, what does a good boss do with limited time? Answer: they investigate. They investigate with a goal of discovering inner strengths because it’s these design-driven forces that unlock one of the most effective and efficient paths we can pursue in the development of ourselves and our team. Good bosses aren’t just investigating to identify strengths. They’re looking to discover each team member’s strongest strengths.

A Good Boss Develops Strongest Strengths First

It’s a person’s strongest strengths that have likely already been developed to the degree that they stand out and are used the most often. Therefore, it’s these specific strengths (on an even larger list of design-driven strengths) that will guide them the fastest and most effectively along the path of achieving their goals. Any strength that belongs to a team member by design is valuable and has the capacity to produce a sense of fulfillment when rightly used. But strongest strengths are the fastest path to success and should be a high-value target in any Good Boss Development Plan.

• Do you have direct reports that you believe have only begun to tap into their full potential?
• Do you have team members feeling unchallenged or struggling to contribute to the team in a meaningful way?
• Or perhaps you’ve noticed the same negative patterns repeating themselves within a team member’s behavior?

Then take the actions every kindhearted, investigator boss should take. INVESTIGATE and identify your team members’ strongest strengths.

Investigate These “Good Boss” Moves

Do you agree that good bosses with limited time should prioritize people development over project management? If yes, here’s how you make this Good Boss move in your leadership position:

1. INVESTIGATE: Discover your team’s inner designs with this free assessment Discover your InnerKinetics
2. ASK QUESTIONS. Ask questions that are designed to uncover each member’s present relationship to their inner strengths. Particularly, what can you discover about their strongest strengths (a.k.a. the most meaningful and fastest opportunities for positive change)?
   Examples:

• • Are you aware of your strengths and the role they play in your life’s successes and failures?
  • Which strengths are you presently using that you believe create positive momentum toward your goals?
  • Are there any strengths in your inner design that you are currently not using at all?

3. CREATE OPPORTUNITIES. Take any strength in a team member’s temperament, one at a time, and develop it until they:

• • Are aware of when they use it and when they don’t
  • Have developed it as best as they can
  • Feel ready to go on to the next

4. CELEBRATE WINS. Generously approve every attempt your team members make to use their inner strengths correctly for their own benefit or the benefit of the team. It’s the emotional payback when we use our strengths that provide the motivation to continue their development.

And more specific guidance on developing strengths can be found within “InnerKinetics – Your Blueprint to Excellence and Happiness.”

Whether in the workplace, or at home, our team at InnerKinetics is ready to provide you with personal coaching that equips you to make your best “GOOD BOSS MOVES.” If you’d like some assistance, you can request a consultation here:  Schedule an Initial Consultation.