Twenty equal one...

"Your team did a great job Roberto". "The new Global process is simple and effective. It is working very well. Congratulations. What could you have done differently? Well, next time, listen the suggestions of Andy in U.K. or Miguel in Mexico. Their ideas are really good and would have made the process even better..." Michel was offering me a gift. He was offering coaching and feedback about a one year long project that led us, 20 years ago, to re-engineering the succession plan process in Valeo. I have been blessed to work with great leaders in Valeo, Colgate, Johnson & Johnson, Santander. Most of the time, not all the time. I can easily separate the good from the less. The line of demarcation is given by the time the leaders I worked with have dedicated to my development. Time spent coaching me; talking about my performance; giving me feedback; time spent recognising a good work or addressing things that I should have done differently. This line and the time my leaders spent (or not) investing in my development, separate the great leaders I have worked with from the others. It is a clear manifestation of the "generosity" (I talked about generosity in my previous post) a leader has in giving back some of his knowledge to his direct reports. His experience to contribute to accelerate the development of future senior leaders. I have a magic formula for this: twenty equal one. No, don't be worried, I'm not trying to drag you into one of the brainless games used to artificially increase social media traffic. I'm talking about something serious: if a leader commits to spend 20% of his time to the activities listed above, he commits to dedicate 1 day a week to the development of the team. This is the demonstration of the generosity a leader has to contribute to make other leaders better leaders, to improve the intangible asset of knowledge in the organisation. It is the best way to demonstrate that he cares about the people he manages. Doing this makes a real difference. 

At the end of that day 20 years ago, we went out for a good dinner in Paris with Michel. It was a moment of recognition and a moment to think about the next project of transformation to kick off.