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Understanding People's Developmental Needs

We offer four different ways of assessing team members' development needs. These are Observation, Information Gathering, Talking Things Through, and Use of Skills Assessment Assignments.

Using the Tools:

Observation:

“My dear Watson, you see a lot but you observe very little.”

Sherlock Holmes may not be remembered a great coach, but he sure has a knack of putting the solutions in perspective. For, as Holmes obviously knew, observation helps a lot in understanding a person's strengths and areas of improvement, both at a personal and professional level.

Successful leaders never let go of an opportunity to observe the way that their team members work or behave during the normal course of their work. This observation itself is not an end in itself, but is an objective means of gathering information for evaluation.

Do remember the following while you are observing your team members:

• See your role as that of a faithful recorder of facts;
• Avoid “breathing down people’s necks”
• Do not allow yourself to be judgmental until you feel you have a good picture of the way things work; and
• Do not let stereotypes or hearsay affect your observations.

Information Gathering: Providing you're sensitive, you can also gather a lot of information from others who work closely with the individual. Depending on culture and circumstance, these information sources may include internal or external clients, past bosses, or even peers and co-workers. You can also gather information from records of past reviews or 360-degree feedback forms.

Remember the following while involving alternative channels in information gathering:

• Make sure you don't undermine the person's dignity, and that you respect the context. For example, in some cultures it may be acceptable to talk to co-workers. In many others, this will have to be done with the greatest sensitivity, if at all;
  
• Be careful that your questioning does not arouse old grudges that would otherwise be forgotten; and
  
• Avoid unfocused generalization: Ask people to back up their observations and comments with specific examples.

Observation and Information Gathering will help you form some of the picture, however they're unlikely to tell you what the individual is thinking.

Talking Things Through with the Individual:

This is where it's essential to talk things through with members of your team. Only by talking can you understand what they want and how they, as individuals, see the World. And only if you understand this can you best help team members develop their approach to work.

The most pleasant way of doing this is just to have an informal "chat" with individual team members. Unfortunately this often does little more than build trust - team members will quite naturally want to present a positive impression to you, and you will rarely do more than "scratch the surface" of any issues that need to be addressed.

This is where use of a tool like DIFSWOT can help you frame a more insightful discussion... (Sign in to read more.)

Full text of this article is available to members of the Mind Tools Career Excellence Club. If you're a member, please click here for full text, or sign in below.

This is one of the articles in Mind Tools’ “How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You” course. The module from which it comes goes on to show you how to develop an effective coaching and delegation style. Click here to find our more.

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