“Unlocking Managerial Excellence: Will vs Skill”

Last week we released a post about a framework that I felt we do not see leveraged enough in leadership.

The Framework: Will vs Skill

In case you missed it, here is the link to the original post:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7244314696818835457/?actorCompanyId=96297016

In today’s article, I will go into detail about what this framework is about and how you can leverage it daily in your role.

Before we begin, what is a framework and why is it used in leadership?

• A framework is another word for: Tool

• A framework provides a Leader with a set of guidelines on how they can further develop their team and their skillset.

• A framework is typically leveraged to seek a better understanding of the concerns or development requirements of the team member.

• It allows the Leader the opportunity to dig deeper into the needs of the team member in order to further their development and skillset.

There are hundreds of frameworks that are leveraged in leadership daily.

When and how you leverage or utilized these frameworks, depends on:

• Your leadership style;

• Your overall approach with your team;

• Your objective.

Narrowing in on the Will vs Skill framework, this framework is primarily leveraged to help identify performance gaps and development needs amongst your team member. It also helps assess a team members overall engagement.

There are two areas of focus within this framework.

• Will:

  • This will help you identify whether your team is highly motivated and eager to learn.

  • Will is all about engagement.

  • Does this team member want to be here?

  • Does this team member enjoy doing what they're doing every day?

  • Is the team member eager to do more and learn more?

• Skill:

  • This will help you identify whether your team member has the skill set needed to do their role on their own.

  • In leadership, we don’t want to spend time hovering over our teams, providing them with guidance on every action item.

  • Skill, allows us to evaluate development opportunities for our team members.

So, how do we leverage this framework in reality?

My suggestion, would be to sit with your team member in a one to one session and provide them with an overview of what the framework is and what it entails. I would take time to stress the importance of doing the framework together. You're asking your team to rate themselves on their willingness to learn and their skill abilities. It’s important to remind them, this is not a performance review. This is a development assessment.

Although this might seem like a daunting task, the manager needs to take time to express to the team member that this framework and exercise will benefit them in the long run.

How?

By completing this exercise, you will have a better understanding of what the team member feels they need for support and development. From here you can begin to build a development plan surrounded around the areas of improvement.

Now, you don't necessarily need to do this exercise with your team member. This is something that you can do on your own and put together your own feedback and comments based on what you see daily from a performance perspective. Your notes will then become the action items for yourself in bettering and improving your team members development.

If you’re electing to do this exercise solo, you negate the opportunity to engage with your team member and gain their perspective. You also prevent the opportunity of them participating in their development plan.

Once you identify where your team member sits on the skill and will axle of the framework, it will be much easier for you as the manager to identify next steps.

Example 1:

• If your team member is high will and high skill, this team member can be empowered to take on bigger projects or make decisions on your behalf.

• You can also delegate some of your work as the manager to this team member allowing them an opportunity to develop skills required for management and leadership.

Example 2:

• If your team member is showing a low will and low skill, then your approach will be to direct them on what they need to do.

• Having a team member with low will and low skill is a watch out.

• This team member will have low engagement, meaning they will not be interested in learning more or hearing your perspective.

• You will need to spend more time on their skillset because having low skill means they're struggling to do their work.

By having this framework you can have more engaging discussions with your team member in your one to one sessions. Your meetings can focus on their development, the progress they’re making, and further areas of improvement. This framework should be leveraged once a quarter or biannually, giving you time from one quarter to the next to work on the various areas for development.

By doing this quarterly it also gives time in between the sessions to monitor the progress and see how far the team member has come.