I want to share with you a practice that was inspired by a friend and co-worker of mine. Brooks Linkhorn is a leader who has a passion for people and leading them to a better future. Brooks meets regularly with his team and they go through the current roster of associates and read the names of each individual out loud. They do not just jump from one name to the next. They enact what I will call "a leadership pause" where they will each put thought to how they perceive this person to be doing. I am not talking about reflecting on metrics that can be gathered from a database (attendance, productivity, bonuses, awards, etc). I am talking about taking "a leadership pause" to think together on how the person is doing with their life in general. If one of the management members has something that strikes them, Brooks and the team will discuss such person and what action needs to be taken to hopefully improve their situation.
They do this exercise for the entire associate group within their area of responsibility. It is a LARGE group of people, so it is not a matter of whether you have time to do this or not, it is a matter of taking the necessary "leadership pauses" dedicated to every individual. You will find that if someone is struggling, it will be in the gut of either yourself or one of your management team members.
How many times have you heard of something really bad happening to someone or a really bad situation and you thought to yourself: Why didn't anyone check with that person as to how they were really doing?
Application:
If you have one or more managers reporting to you, get together with them bi-weekly and have " a leadership pause" meeting by going through the roster of employees/associates as Brooks does. Each take time to think about them and discuss anything that comes up. If all is good with with the person in mind, move on to the next name. Remember to read their name out loud to the group.
If you are solely responsible for a group of associates (no management team). Get your roster of names and read the name out loud to yourself and think on that person.
Of course, you will want to devise a simple plan to invest some relational time with the people who may have challenges and find ways to best lead them to a better future.
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